https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2025/06/26/to-the-editor-rep-kaptur-should-champion-the-end-kidney-deaths-act/stories/20250623007 (https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2025/06/26/to-the-editor-rep-kaptur-should-champion-the-end-kidney-deaths-act/stories/20250623007)
To the editor: Rep. Kaptur should champion the End Kidney Deaths Act
A living donor kidney transplant is the best treatment for kidney failure.
As a living kidney donor, nephrology nurse, family with kidney disease, and advocate, I urge Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) to cosponsor and champion the End Kidney Deaths Act (H.R. 2687). This bill offers the best chance we have to finally end the tragic and preventable deaths caused by the kidney shortage.
In Rep. Kaptur's district, 2,065 people are on dialysis, and 443 die each year waiting for a transplant. These deaths are not inevitable. They are the result of a system that does not do enough to support living kidney donation. We need to change that. The End Kidney Deaths Act is a bipartisan, 10-year pilot program that would provide a refundable tax credit of $10,000 per year for five years to individuals who donate a kidney to a stranger. The total compensation of $50,000 is recognition for their time, recovery, and bravery.
With more than 40 years in nephrology nursing, kidney disease has shaped both my professional career and personal life. My husband and both of our children have Polycystic Kidney Disease; my husband spent time on dialysis before receiving two living donor transplants. I've experienced this journey firsthand, donating my kidney to a stranger in 2017. That life-changing experience led me to start the nonprofit Kidney Donor Conversations in 2018 and publish the book Understanding Living Kidney Disease.
The End Kidney Deaths Act is grounded in fairness and fiscal responsibility. The federal government currently spends $50 billion a year on dialysis for over half a million Americans. Dialysis costs about $100,000 per patient per year. By contrast, a living donor transplant is both more effective and less expensive. Living donor kidneys last twice as long as those from deceased donors, and their recipients tend to have better outcomes. By passing this bill, taxpayers could save up to $37 billion over the next decade.
Between 2010 and 2021, over 100,000 Americans died while waiting for a kidney.
If Congress passes the End Kidney Deaths Act, we could save that many lives in the next 10 years. The legislation will also increase access to transplantation for highly sensitized patients who are hardest to match. Non-directed donors often serve as the first link in transplant chains that multiply their impact and help many recipients. The longest such chain saved 114 lives.
There is simply no other solution that comes close to solving the kidney shortage. Fewer than 1 percent of deaths occur under conditions that allow for deceased organ recovery. Even in the best-case scenario, optimizing deceased donation would yield only 2,000 more kidneys per year. That is not enough.
Meanwhile, only about 400 people per year donate a kidney to a stranger. These non-directed donors are the key to solving the crisis. The End Kidney Deaths Act would finally support them in a meaningful way, providing a fair, ethical path to saving lives.
Let's take an innovative step to save more lives. Improving the kidney care system matters, but our top priority should be championing living kidney donors—the gold-standard option for people with kidney failure. Let us work together to ensure that no one dies simply because they cannot find a willing donor. Help pass the End Kidney Deaths Act.
Glenna Frey, of Whitehouse, is a nephrology nurse and a living kidney donor; co-founder and executive director, Kidney Donor Conversations, Inc.; and author of "Understanding Living Kidney Donation: The Best Treatment for Kidney Disease."
First Published June 26, 2025, 12:47 p.m.