Urge Congress to Vote "Yes" on their End-of-the-Year Legislative Package

Congress will be voting this week on the end-of-the-year package, which will fund the government through March 2025. The bill includes three provisions that will help kidney patients.

Honor Our Living Donors Act (H.R. 6020): The federal government has a program that reimburses income eligible living organ donors for lost wages, dependent care, travel, and incidental expenses. The program currently requires the income of the organ recipient and the donor to be considered for income eligibility purposes. The bill will require only the donor's income to be considered, which will make it easier for donors to qualify for the program. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Updates: The Secretary of HHS will be able to collect "waitlist" fees from Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) contractors for each transplant candidate they have placed on the transplant waiting list. The Secretary currently collects fees, but this provision fixes a technical issue to allow for the collection from any OPTN contractor. The fees are distributed to support the operations of the OPTNs. This proposed language is also important to support the implementation of the Securing the US OPTN Act of 2023. Medicare Part D (Prescription Drugs): To address drug costs in Medicare Part D, the bill includes a number of provisions aimed at transparency of drug costs along the distribution process from manufacturer to patient. It also requires manufacturer discounts to be passed along to pharmacies and consumers.

Please contact your Representative and Senators today and urge them to vote yes on the end-of-the-year package.