Many in the EA ecosystem have donated a kidney to a stranger (myself included!). 

The logic behind donation is simple: at a very small risk to yourself, you can make a huge benefit in someone else’s lives (or, with a kidney chain, several people’s lives).

But unfortunately, the problem of kidney disease is much larger than any one person can solve: there were only 447 nondirected kidney donations in 2023, which is just 5% of the 9,000 kidney waitlist deaths that year. 

Since 2024, I’ve been working on passing a bill which I think is the most promising way to address this problem: the End Kidney Deaths Act (H.R. 2687), a ten year pilot program, which aims to provide kidney donors who donate to a stranger with a refundable tax credit of $10,000 per year for five years, $50,000 in total. Because around $500,000 tax dollars are saved every time someone donates a kidney,  the bill would likely save billions of dollars annually. The impacts of the bill are necessarily hard to estimate (as it is difficult to know just how many people would come forward to donate), but our best guess is that this bill would save tens of thousands of lives and billions of tax dollars by encouraging kidney donation. 

For more, you can read the bill text here and an article in Notes in Progress here. 

Our team has had hundred meetings with Congressional staffers about this bill, and there are currently 43 House sponsors from both parties. We consistently hear that a key barrier to getting more Congressional support is simply that too few people are calling and writing their members of Congress. 

I am posting with the hope of mobilizing more people to get involved. It doesn’t take long! 

How you can help

1. Write and call your Senators and Representatives.
   Ask them to cosponsor and champion the End Kidney Deaths Act (H.R. 2687). You can use this form. 
   
   If you are writing to a Democratic Senate office, please edit your default email asking them to join Senator Jerry Moran as the co-lead. 

1. Sign up to help advocate.
   Visit EndKidneyDeathsAct.org to join our team or email me at Elaine@WaitlistZero.org with your zip code. You will receive updates, guidance, and opportunities to meet with congressional offices. We have Action Fridays and monthly virtual meetings to galvanize our progress.  
   
    
2. Share this post with friends and family
    The more people who write letters and publicize this bill, the faster it will pass.