Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2016

Summary: Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2016 This bill allows the exchange of human organs for valuable consideration (anything of value) under pilot programs approved by the Department of Health and Human Services to measure the effect of removing disincentives or providing a noncash benefit that may increase organ availability. (Currently, exchanging human organs for valuable consideration is prohibited by the National Organ Transplant Act.) In addition to reimbursements permitted in the National Organ Transplant Act, this bill declares that valuable consideration does not include:  dependent care needs related to organ donation, medical expenses related to donation and all related follow-up care including preventive follow-up care and medication, paperwork or legal costs related to donation, or  an insurance policy against the risk of death or disability as a result of donating an organ or the longer-term health effects of having donated an organ.  

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Organ Donation Clarification Act of 
2016''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) As of January 2016, 121,000 people await an organ 
        transplant, with 100,000 of those people waiting for a kidney, 
        and average wait times are approaching five years for a kidney, 
        with twice as many people being added to waiting lists as 
        getting a transplant.
            (2) Living donor kidney transplants peaked in 2006 and have 
        declined since due to a scarcity of living donors.
            (3) Of the roughly two million Americans who die annually, 
        only 10,500 to 13,800, representing less than one percent of 
        all deaths each year, possess major organs healthy enough for 
        transplanting.
            (4) On average, 22 people a day died while waiting for an 
        organ, with the majority of those people waiting on a kidney.
            (5) In 2013 nearly 3,000 people were permanently removed 
        from kidney waiting lists and 2,000 from liver, heart, and 
        lungs waiting lists because they became permanently too sick to 
        receive a transplant.
            (6) 90% of dialysis patients are not employed because 
        dialysis requires multiple treatments per week which last 
        several hours and leave patients drained, thus creating a huge 
        financial burden on the patients, their families, and the 
        government which is not included in the cost estimates above.
            (7) A patient receiving a kidney transplant on average has 
        an additional 10-15 years of life at a much more enjoyable and 
        productive level as compared with remaining on dialysis, while 
        receiving a kidney from a living donor providing 4-8 years of 
        additional life as compared to receiving a kidney from a 
        deceased donor.
            (8) As medical advances extend people's lives as they wait 
        for an organ transplant, waiting lists will get longer and the 
        costs for individuals and the Federal Government will increase 
        significantly.
            (9) Roughly seven percent of the Medicare budget goes to 
        the End Stage Renal Disease Program, with dialysis costing 
        Medicare over $87,000 per patient per year, as Federal law 
        dictates that Medicare will cover dialysis for everyone who has 
        made minimal Social Security tax payments.
            (10) A kidney transplant pays for itself in less than two 
        years, with each transplant saving an average of over $745,000 
        in medical costs over a 10-year period, 75 percent of which is 
        savings to the taxpayers.
            (11) Experts project that if the supply of transplant 
        kidneys could be increased to meet the demand, taxpayers would 
        save more than $5,500,000,000 per year in medical costs.
            (12) The World Health Organization estimates that 10 
        percent of all transplants take place on the international 
        black market, the last choice for desperate patients facing an 
        alternative of death, however recipients often face infected 
        kidneys and have poor health outcomes and donors are often 
        victimized.
            (13) Present policy on domestic donation, which is not 
        evidence based and has never been subject to studies or pilots 
        to determine effectiveness in increasing the availability of 
        donated organs and the effectiveness of safeguards that prevent 
        coercion or exploitation, precludes all but altruistic 
        donation, prohibiting any form of incentive or benefit for 
        donors.
            (14) Experts are arriving at a consensus that trials are 
        necessary to find new methods of promoting additional organ 
        donation which will save lives and reduce organ trafficking.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE NATIONAL ORGAN 
              TRANSPLANT ACT.

    (a) Relation to Other Laws.--
            (1) Governments encouraging organ donation.--Section 301 of 
        the National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e) shall not--
                    (A) apply to actions taken by the Government of the 
                United States or any State, territory, tribe, or local 
                government of the United States to carry out a covered 
                pilot program; or
                    (B) prohibit acceptance of any noncash benefits 
                provided by the pilot program under subparagraph (A).
            (2) No prohibition on other benefits programs.--Nothing in 
        this section shall be construed to prohibit actions, other than 
        actions described in this section, taken by any State, 
        territory, tribe, or unit of local government in the United 
        States to provide benefits for organ donation, including 
        pursuant to section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 274e).
            (3) Clarification of meaning of benefit.--For purposes of 
        the National Organ Transplant Act, valuable consideration does 
        not include the following:
                    (A) Reimbursement for travel, lodging, food during 
                travel, and other expenses related to donation.
                    (B) Provision of or reimbursement for dependent 
                care needs related to donation.
                    (C) Reimbursement for lost wages related to 
                donation.
                    (D) Medical expenses related to donation and all 
                related follow up care including preventative follow up 
                care and medication.
                    (E) Paperwork or legal costs related to donation.
                    (F) Any insurance policy against the risk of death 
                or disability as a result of donating an organ or the 
                longer-term health effects of having donated an organ.
    (b) Definition.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``organ'' means the human kidney, liver, 
        heart, lung, pancreas, bone marrow obtained by aspirate, 
        cornea, eye, bone and other musculoskeletal tissue, skin, and 
        heart valves and other cardio and vascular tissue.
            (2) The term ``covered pilot program'' means a pilot 
        program approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
        subject to an ethical review board process, with a term of not 
        more than 5 fiscal years, for the purpose of measuring the 
        effect of removing disincentives or providing a noncash benefit 
        that may increase the organ pool. Distributions of organs from 
        deceased donors under the pilot program shall be conducted only 
        through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network at a 
        transplant center approved by the United Network for Organ 
        Sharing or any other entity designated by the Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services.