Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
Issues
Health
Inslee, Transplant Specialists Urge Full Funding for Organ Donation Legislation
10 May 2005
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee and the American Society of Transplantation (AST) today urged full funding for the initiatives enacted by the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act. Inslee released a letter that he and 60 other Members of Congress sent this week to House appropriators in support of the complete $25 million in funding for the law's organ donation programs, which include increasing organ donor coordinators, expanding public awareness programs, strengthening organ procurement infrastructure, and reimbursing expenses incurred by living donors. Inslee was joined in seeking bipartisan support for the letter by Congressman Bilirakis (R-NY), who was instrumental in passing the organ donor legislation last year.
Said Inslee, "More and more Americans are enjoying the gift-of-life by receiving an organ transplant. Congress has passed a law making it easier to give and acquire this gift. Now we need to back the innovative ideas with funding for organ donation efforts. A federal commitment to organ donation funding will lower the waiting lists and increase public awareness about donating an organ. I will continue to work with professionals in Washington State and nationally to advance efforts for people to obtain an extension on life with a new organ."
"The American Society of Transplantation recognizes the ongoing leadership and commitment of Congressman Inslee to advancing the gift-of-life that is essential to saving lives through organ transplantation. We are thrilled at the opportunity to work with the Congressman to raise funding for the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement law," remarked AST President Jay Fishman of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "The entire transplant community is behind this effort; as we hold our annual meeting in Seattle, we appreciate the opportunity to work with the Congressman as he champions this important cause."
Said Connie Davis, MD, Medical Director, Kidney and Kidney-Pancreas Transplant Program, University of Washington Medical Center, "The transplant community and physicians caring for patients with end organ disease wish to thank Congressman Inslee and his colleagues for their tireless work to help those in need. Congress took great time and energy producing a bill that will make a huge difference in access to care for those needing a transplant and the funding to support the activities will make it a reality. Health professionals and patients from Washington State would like to offer a special thank you to Congressman Inslee for his efforts to provide federal funding to implement the "Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act" as we welcome the national transplant meetings to Seattle next week."
The organ donation legislation that passed Congress last year includes a provision written by Inslee that will help increase the number of needed organ donations. Inslee's language included in the bill will provide grants for hospitals and organ procurement organizations to hire organ donor coordinators. Inslee will be giving a keynote address at the American Transplant Congress' (ATC) annual meeting in Seattle at the end of May.
Between 1988 and 2005, over 6,900 organ transplants have been performed in Washington State, with 101 transplants conducted in 2005 alone. Currently, 1,228 people in Washington State are on the waiting list for a solid organ (kidney, liver, pancreas, kidney/pancreas, heart, lung, heart/lung), while over 88,000 are waiting for an organ nationally. 17 people die each day waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
The AST is an organization of transplant professionals dedicated to research, education, advocacy and patient care in transplantation science and medicine. The society comprises more than 2,300 transplant physicians, surgeons, scientists and allied health professionals.
The text of the Congressional letter is as follows:
Chairman Ralph Regula
The Honorable Lester M. Crawford
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
2358 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6024
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
H-218 Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6015Ranking Member David R. Obey
Dear Chairman and Ranking Member:
There are currently over 88,000 Americans awaiting organ transplantation; over 6,000 this year will die never having received a potentially life-giving organ. To combat this trend, Congress enacted the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act (Public Law 108-216) to reduce organ donation barriers and improve organ donation and recovery rates. We are asking the Committee to continue this effort by fully funding the initiatives established by this law for Fiscal Year 2006, including expanding public awareness programs, strengthening our organ procurement infrastructure, and reimbursing expenses incurred by living donors.
The Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act authorizes $25 million in FY 2005 and "such sums as necessary" for FY 2006 and onward. However, the bill was not funded in FY 2005 due, in part, to its enactment late in the appropriations cycle. As a result, FY 2006 is a critical year to achieve funding. We ask that the Committee provide an initial appropriation of $25 million to immediately begin implementation of the critical programs authorized under the law.
We are encouraged by the recent news that nearly 27,000 Americans received an organ transplant in 2004, setting a new national record and marking the largest increase in organs from deceased donors in the past 10 years. Fully funding the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act will build on this achievement, and enhance current efforts by the federal government, states, and other entities to promote organ donation, reduce the waiting list, and improve the practice of organ recovery, so that more Americans may receive the gift of life.
Additionally, by fully funding the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act, we have the potential to actually reduce future Medicare expenditures. By its own estimate, Medicare would avoid direct dialysis costs, which routinely exceed $55,000 per patient per year for each patient transplanted. Because of the shortage of donated organs from deceased donors, the current median waiting time from being placed on the waiting list (at the stage of a patient's disease where dialysis becomes necessary to sustain life) to transplantation now exceeds four years. Therefore, for every new donor facilitated by this program Medicare would save a minimum of $220,000 over four years. Four-year savings to Medicare (from patients transplanted in FY 2006 alone) would exceed $110 million. A similar four-year savings would accrue on a continuing basis for each subsequent year.
This is an excellent opportunity to increase the number of lives saved by organ donation as well as reduce long-term outlays in Medicare, and fully funding the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act for FY06 is an important step in that process.
We appreciate your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Inslee, Jay
Abercrombie, Neil
Ackerman, Gary L.
Baca, Joe
Baird, Brian
Baldwin, Tammy
Barrow, John
Bilirakis, Michael
Boswell, Leonard L.
Butterfield, G. K.
Camp, Dave
Capuano, Michael E.
Cardin, Benjamin L.
Case, Ed
Castle, Michael N.
Cooper, Jim
Cummings, Elijah E.
Davis, Danny K.
Delahunt, William D.
Dicks, Norman D.
Doggett, Lloyd
Ford, Harold E. Jr.
Gerlach, Jim
Grijalva, Raúl M.
Gutierrez, Luis V.
Herseth, Stephanie
Hinojosa, Rubén
Holt, Rush D.
Honda, Michael M.
Israel, Steve
Jefferson, William J.
Johnson, Timothy V.
Kildee, Dale E.
Kind, Ron
Lantos, Tom
Larsen, Rick
Lynch, Stephen F.
Manzullo, Donald A.
Marshall, Jim
McCarthy, Carolyn
McDermott, Jim
McGovern, James P.
Meehan, Martin T.
Melancon, Charlie
Moore, Dennis
Nadler, Jerrold
Norwood, Charlie
Owens, Major R.
Pallone, Frank Jr.
Platts, Todd Russell
Reyes, Silvestre
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana
Simmons, Rob
Skelton, Ike
Smith, Adam
Stark, Fortney Pete
Towns, Edolphus
Van Hollen, Chris
Waxman, Henry A.
Wilson, Joe
Wynn, Albert Russell