Honor Our Living Donors Act

Honor Our Living Donors Act

This bill modifies certain criteria used to determine eligibility under the Living Organ Donation Reimbursement Program, which reimburses organ donors for certain incidental expenses related to organ donation (e.g., travel expenses). 

The bill specifies that the organ recipient's income may not be considered in determining whether an organ donor may be reimbursed under the program. (Currently, an organ recipient's income may not be greater than 350% of the federal poverty guidelines.) Additionally, under the bill, organ donors may be reimbursed regardless of whether the organ recipient pays them (or could be expected to pay them) for their expenses.

The Department of Health and Human Services must report on whether the program adequately covers the expenses of organ donors, and if not, the amount of necessary funding. 

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 628 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 628

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to eliminate consideration of 
 the income of organ recipients in providing reimbursement of expenses 
            to donating individuals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 22, 2025

 Mr. Obernolte (for himself and Ms. DelBene) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to eliminate consideration of 
 the income of organ recipients in providing reimbursement of expenses 
            to donating individuals, 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 ``Honor Our Living Donors Act''.

SEC. 2. NO CONSIDERATION OF INCOME OF ORGAN RECIPIENT.

    Section 377 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274f) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) as 
        subsections (d) through (g), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) No Consideration of Income of Organ Recipient.--The recipient 
of a grant under this section, in providing reimbursement to a donating 
individual through such grant, shall not give any consideration to the 
income of the organ recipient.''; and
            (3) in subsection (f), as so redesignated--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``subsection 
                (c)(1)'' and inserting ``subsection (d)(1)''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``subsection 
                (c)(2)'' and inserting ``subsection (d)(2)''.

SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF EXPECTATION OF PAYMENTS BY ORGAN RECIPIENTS.

    Section 377(e) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
274f(e)), as redesignated by section 2, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by adding ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a 
        period; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (3).

SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT.

    Section 377 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274f), as 
amended by sections 2 and 3, is further amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``(h) Annual Report.--Not later than December 31 of each year, the 
Secretary shall--
            ``(1) prepare, submit to the Congress, and make public a 
        report on whether grants under this section provided adequate 
        funding during the preceding fiscal year to reimburse all 
        donating individuals participating in the grant program under 
        this section for all qualifying expenses; and
            ``(2) include in each such report--
                    ``(A) the estimated number of all donating 
                individuals participating in the grant program under 
                this section who did not receive reimbursement for all 
                qualifying expenses during the preceding fiscal year; 
                and
                    ``(B) the total amount of funding that is estimated 
                to be necessary to fully reimburse all donating 
                individuals participating in the grant program under 
                this section for all qualifying expenses.''.
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