Comment: Bill in Congress can boost kidney donations, save lives

Published 1:30 am Saturday, June 28, 2025

By George Taniwaki, Molly McCarthy and Scott Leibrand / For The Herald

We live different lives in Washington state’s 1st Congressional District. George donated a kidney to a complete stranger. Molly is living with her third transplanted kidney in 34 years. Scott has watched far too many suffer and die while waiting.

What unites us is our urgency and our hope that U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., a national leader on kidney policy, will lead the charge to end America’s silent kidney crisis.

Every day in this country, 25 people die while waiting for a kidney or become too sick to receive one. Over the past 11 years, more than 100,000 Americans have died while stuck on the wait list. These are not just statistics. They are parents, children, teachers, artists and veterans.

Right here in the 1st District, 833 people are currently on dialysis. They die at a rate of 20 percent annually, which means we are losing around 170 of our neighbors each year. These deaths are preventable. The End Kidney Deaths Act gives us the opportunity to live in a country where no one dies while waiting for a kidney.

We are urging Rep. DelBene to cosponsor the End Kidney Deaths Act. She has long been a champion for kidney patients. As co-chair of the bipartisan Kidney Caucus, Rep. DelBene understands this issue not only as a policymaker, but as someone who values real-world solutions. She supports making living donation cost-neutral, ensuring donors are not penalized for their generosity. Today, most U.S. donors receive full reimbursement through the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC), Donor Shield, or state tax credits.

However, making donation cost-neutral has not increased the number of living donors. The End Kidney Deaths Act’s compensation program for those who donate kidneys to strangers will eliminate the shortage, just like the compensation for surrogacy as well as gamete and plasma donation has ended shortages.

Despite these important protections, living kidney donation in the U.S. has been stagnant at around 6,000 annually for over two decades. The status quo is failing us.

That is why we are urging Rep. DelBene to support H.R. 2687, the End Kidney Deaths Act. It is a transformative, bipartisan solution that finally addresses the real barrier: a chronic shortage of donors.

The bill would create a 10-year pilot program offering a $10,000 refundable tax credit to living donors who give a kidney to a stranger, specifically to those waiting the longest. This is about honoring donors’ sacrifices, much like we already do for surrogates, gamete donors and plasma donors. Congress uses tax policy to encourage good behavior all the time. Why not here?

If passed, this bill could lead to 100,000 additional kidney transplants and save up to $37 billion in health care costs. Most importantly, it could eliminate the transplant wait list within a decade.

As a Redmond resident, Molly knows what is at stake. She received kidneys from both her parents and now lives with a deceased donor’s kidney, her third transplant. “I feel her presence with me,” she says. “And I feel the need to be an advocate for her.” Molly testified before Congress to urge progress, not just for herself, but for every patient facing the same painful uncertainty.

George did not know who received his kidney. But he knew that saving one life was worth everything. Scott sees this bill as a moral imperative, an end to needless suffering and wasteful inefficiency.

Congresswoman DelBene has always been a voice of reason, equity and innovation. She helped expand the Child Tax Credit, strengthen the low-income housing tax credit, and has led on data privacy and health care reform. Now, we are asking her to bring that same boldness to the fight to end kidney deaths. This legislation must be included in this year’s reconciliation package because saving lives should never be postponed.

We do not need another decade of inaction. We need a visionary push now.

Rep. DelBene, thank you for your leadership. Please support the End Kidney Deaths Act and help make sure no more families in Washington or anywhere in America must grieve a loved one who died simply waiting.

George Taniwaki is a living kidney donor. Molly McCarthy is a three-time kidney transplant recipient. Scott Leibrand is an advocate for the End Kidney Deaths Act.