Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2020
This bill specifies that certain payments and pilot programs relating to organ donation do not violate the National Organ Transplant Act, which prohibits the exchange of valuable consideration for human organs.
Specifically, it excludes additional types of reimbursements and payments related to organ donation from the definition of valuable consideration, such as costs for (1) dependent care; (2) certain medical expenses for up to 10 years after a donation; (3) paperwork or legal services; and (4) term life insurance policies, subject to some limitations.
In addition, the federal government, states, or local governments may carry out pilot programs to evaluate the effects of removing disincentives or providing noncash benefits on the availability of organs for transplant, provided these programs meet ethical and other conditions.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7900 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7900
To amend the National Organ Transplant Act to clarify the definition of
valuable consideration, to clarify that pilot programs that honor and
promote organ donation do not violate that Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 31, 2020
Mr. Cartwright introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Organ Transplant Act to clarify the definition of
valuable consideration, to clarify that pilot programs that honor and
promote organ donation do not violate that Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Organ Donation Clarification Act of
2020''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) As of June 2020, 111,000 people await an organ
transplant, with 93,000 of those people waiting for a kidney,
and average wait times are approaching five years for a kidney,
with nearly twice as many people being added to the waiting
lists as getting a transplant.
(2) Of the roughly two million Americans who die annually,
only 10,500 to 13,800, representing less than one percent of
all deaths each year, possess major organs healthy enough for
transplanting.
(3) On average, 22 people a day died while waiting for an
organ in 2019, with the majority of those people waiting for a
kidney.
(4) In 2019, approximately 4,200 people were removed from
kidney waiting lists and approximately 1,700 from liver, heart,
and lungs waiting lists because they became permanently too
sick to receive a transplant.
(5) Ninety percent of dialysis patients are not employed
because dialysis requires multiple treatments per week which
last several hours and leave patients drained, thus creating a
huge financial burden on the patients, their families, and the
government; moreover, lost tax revenue from these individuals
is not included in the cost estimates above, and which can help
lead to as few as 10 percent of dialysis patients being
employed.
(6) A patient receiving a kidney transplant, and thus no
longer needing dialysis, can enjoy a much higher quality of
life for another 10-15 years on average.
(7) As medical advances extend people's lives on dialysis,
the number of patients on dialysis will increase significantly,
as will the costs for individuals and the Federal Government.
(8) Roughly seven percent of the Medicare budget goes to
the End Stage Renal Disease Program, with dialysis costing
Medicare over $90,000 per patient per year, as Federal law
dictates that Medicare will cover dialysis for everyone who has
made minimal Social Security tax payments.
(9) A kidney transplant pays for itself in less than two
years, with each transplant saving an average of over $700,000
in medical costs over a 10-year period, 85 percent of which is
savings to the taxpayers.
(10) Experts project that if the supply of transplant
kidneys could be increased to meet the demand, taxpayers would
save more than $12,000,000,000 per year in medical costs.
(11) The World Health Organization estimates that 10
percent of all transplants take place on the international
black market, the last choice for desperate patients facing an
alternative of death, however recipients often receive infected
kidneys and suffer poor health outcomes and donors are often
victimized.
(12) Present policy on domestic donation has never been
subject to studies or pilots to determine effectiveness in
increasing the availability of donated organs and the
effectiveness of safeguards that prevent coercion or
exploitation, precludes all but altruistic donation,
prohibiting any form of incentive or benefit for donors.
(13) In 2010, Israel implemented sweeping changes to its
national organ donation program including reducing financial
burdens on donors, giving future transplantation priority to
registered organ donors and their families, and promoting
donation by reimbursing the donor's medical costs, 40 days of
lost wages, and five years of medical and life insurance costs,
and as a result saw organ donation approximately triple over a
10-year period.
(14) Experts are arriving at a consensus that trials are
necessary to find new methods of promoting additional organ
donation which will save lives and reduce organ trafficking.
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE NATIONAL ORGAN
TRANSPLANT ACT.
(a) Relation to Other Laws.--Section 301 of the National Organ
Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(d) Relation to Other Laws.--
``(1) Governments encouraging organ donation.--This section
shall not--
``(A) apply to actions taken by the Government of
the United States or any State, territory, tribe, or
local government of the United States to carry out a
covered pilot program; or
``(B) prohibit acceptance of any noncash benefits
provided by the pilot program under subparagraph (A).
``(2) No prohibition on other benefits programs.--Nothing
in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit actions,
other than actions described in this section, taken by any
State, territory, tribe, or unit of local government in the
United States to provide benefits for human organ donation.
``(3) Covered pilot program.--For purposes of this
subsection--
``(A) the term `covered pilot program' means a
pilot program approved by the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, subject to an ethical review board
process, with a term of not more than 5 fiscal years,
for the purpose of measuring the effect of removing
disincentives or providing a noncash benefit that may
increase the organ pool. Distributions of organs from
deceased donors under the pilot program shall be
conducted only through the Organ Procurement and
Transplantation Network at a transplant center approved
by the United Network for Organ Sharing or any other
entity designated by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services; and
``(B) the term `noncash benefit' means any benefit
or thing of value received by an organ donor that is
impossible to sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to
another individual.''.
(b) Valuable Consideration.--Section 301(c)(2) of the National
Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e(c)(2)) is amended to read as
follows:
``(2) The term `valuable consideration' does not include
the following:
``(A) Reasonable payments associated with the
removal, transportation, implantation, processing,
preservation, quality control, and storage of a human
organ.
``(B) Reimbursement for travel, lodging, food
during travel, and other logistical expenses related to
donation.
``(C) Provision of advanced payments or
reimbursement for dependent care needs for pre-
transplant appointments in addition to during the
period of donation and post-transplant follow-up care
related to the donation for up to a 10-year period.
``(D) Reimbursement for lost wages related to
donation.
``(E) Medical expenses related to donation and all
related follow-up care including preventative follow-up
care and medication for up to a 10-year period.
``(F) Paperwork or legal costs related to donation.
``(G) Any term life insurance policy against the
risk of death or disability as a result of donating an
organ or the longer-term health effects of having
donated an organ, that--
``(i) in the case of a life insurance
policy, provides for payments in amounts less
than $2,000,000, adjusted annually for
inflation; and
``(ii) in the case of a disability
insurance policy, provides for payments equal
to or less than the reasonable earnings
expectations of the donor.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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