Policy - Honor the Gift

Add your voice to the thousands across the country telling Congress to support The Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act.

In 1972, Congress made a commitment to cover treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) regardless of their age or disability status. Today, Medicare covers the costs for an ESRD patient to receive a transplant but only covers their anti-rejection medication – one of the key factors that ensures long-term organ health – for 3 years after surgery.

Current policy hurts patients

If a patient cannot afford their medications, the transplanted kidney will be rejected and the patient will have to return to dialysis – a costly and burdensome treatment that reduces the patient’s overall health outcomes and quality of life.

More than 70% of U.S. kidney-transplantation programs reported that their patients had difficulties paying for immunosuppressive medications.

Lives lost

68% of kidney transplant programs reported deaths and organ transplant losses due to patients inability to pay for their anti-rejection medications, and in 2015, approximately 375 Medicare patients needlessly lost their transplanted kidney due to a lack of this crucial medication coverage.

Money lost

If the patient’s kidney is rejected, Medicare will have to begin paying for dialysis treatments again, costing the system an estimated $119,819 per patient in the first year following rejection.

Over a recent five year period, it is estimated that Medicare has squandered nearly $1 billion in health care costs.

Legislative tracker

How close are we to passing the bill? And how can I help?

Below are important milestones for advancing a bill into law. At each point, we need your support to urge Congress to take specific actions. We’ll keep track of progress right here.

Bill Introduction

H.R. 5534 was introduced in the House of Representatives on December 23, 2019, and S. 3353 was introduced in the Senate on February 27, 2020.

Committee Consideration

The House Energy & Commerce committee passed H.R. 5534 on July 15, 2020. It now awaits consideration by the full House!

Floor Action

The bill passed in both the House and the Senate!

President Signs the Bill

The President signed the Immuno bill into law on December 27, 2020!

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The solution is simple

The Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act would be a straightforward solution to an unnecessary problem.

This bipartisan legislation will:

Allow kidney transplant recipients to continue receiving Medicare coverage for their immunosuppressive medications
Reduce the need for dialysis – a costly and burdensome treatment – and repeated kidney transplants, saving both lives and money over time
Result in significant savings to Medicare over ten years while also saving patients and caregivers from overwhelming medical bills

There is broad community support for this bill

The following groups support this legislation:

National Kidney Foundation
American Society of Transplant Surgeons
American Society of Transplantation
American Society of Nephrology
American Society of Pediatric Nephrology
American Association of Kidney Patients
Association of Organ Procurement Organizations
Dialysis Patient Citizens
Renal Physicians Association
United Network for Organ Sharing

The benefits are clear

The patient will live a longer and happier life
The donor and their family will feel that their sacrifice was worth the cost
Result in significant savings to Medicare

Congress must act

Congress can and must do more to protect people living with transplants, honor their donors, and save Medicare money. This bill has been introduced 14 times in the past 15 years. Let’s make 2020 the year that this finally passes!

TAKE ACTION

Protect patients. Honor the gift.