Letter: Pass kidney act to help save lives, and money
Our members of Congress must support the End Kidney Deaths Act now!
One thousand Americans die monthly due to the kidney shortage, and Native Hawaiians are disproportionately affected by kidney disease. Nationally, they were nearly six times more likely to need a kidney transplant in 2019 than expected based on their population share. However, they received only 0.27% of kidney transplants. This is not acceptable.
The End Kidney Deaths Act is a 10-year pilot program to provide a $50,000 refundable tax credit over five years to living kidney donors who give kidneys to strangers. By the 10th year after the passage of the act, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 Americans who were dying on the wait list (most on Medicare) will instead have healthy kidneys, many will return to work, and taxpayers will have saved $14 billion to $25 billion.
Congress can save lives. It just needs to act.
Alan Bryant
Waikiki
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