Honor Our Living Donors Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Honor Our Living Donors Act amends the Public Health Service Act grant program that reimburses living organ donors for qualifying expenses. Grant recipients may not consider the income of the organ recipient when reimbursing the donating individual, so donor reimbursement is not limited by whether the recipient can pay. The bill also removes the existing expectation-of-payments provision tied to organ recipients. HHS must report to Congress and the public by December 31 each year on whether grants provided enough funding in the prior fiscal year to reimburse all participating donating individuals for all qualifying expenses, including estimates of how many donors were not fully reimbursed and how much funding would be needed to fully reimburse them.
Who Benefits and How
Living organ donors benefit because reimbursement decisions cannot be reduced or denied based on the recipient’s income. Organ recipients benefit because donor expense support no longer depends on their ability or expected ability to pay. Congress, transplant centers, and donor advocates benefit from annual public data on unmet reimbursement needs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
HHS and grant recipients must administer donor reimbursement without recipient-income screens and produce annual adequacy reports. Federal taxpayers may face pressure for additional funding if reports show donors are not fully reimbursed. Grant administrators must estimate unreimbursed donors and funding gaps each year.
Key Provisions
- Bars grant recipients from considering organ recipient income when reimbursing living donors for qualifying expenses.
- Removes the statutory expectation that organ recipients make payments tied to donor reimbursement.
- Requires HHS to publish and submit annual reports on whether grants fully reimbursed participating donors.
- Requires annual estimates of the number of donors not fully reimbursed and the funding needed for full reimbursement.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expands living organ donor reimbursement rules by barring consideration of recipient income, removing expected recipient payments, and requiring annual HHS reports on whether donor expenses are fully reimbursed.
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Transplantation, Social Services
Primary Purpose
Expands living organ donor reimbursement rules by barring consideration of recipient income, removing expected recipient payments, and requiring annual HHS reports on whether donor expenses are fully reimbursed.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Living organ donors
- Organ transplant recipients
- Transplant centers
- Living donor advocacy organizations
Identified Costs
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Living donor reimbursement grant recipients
- Federal taxpayers
- Grant administrators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Obernolte (for himself and Ms. DelBene) introduced the following …
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Grant administrators, Living donor reimbursement grant recipients, Living organ donors
Positive-direction: Living organ donors, Organ transplant recipients
Negative-direction: Grant administrators, Living donor reimbursement grant recipients
Congressional health committees, Department of Health and Human Services
Positive-direction: Congressional health committees
Negative-direction: Department of Health and Human Services
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology