II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 511 

To promote and protect from discrimination living organ donors. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mr. COTTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To promote and protect from discrimination living organ 

donors. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Living Donor Protec5 tion Act of 2019’’. 


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•S 511 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DENIAL OF COVERAGE OR IN2 CREASE IN PREMIUMS OF LIFE OR DIS3 ABILITY INSURANCE FOR LIVING ORGAN DO4 NORS. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi6 sion of law, it shall be unlawful to— 

7 (1) decline or limit coverage of a person under 

8 any life insurance policy, disability insurance policy, 

9 or long-term care insurance policy, due to the status 

10 of such person as a living organ donor; 

11 (2) preclude a person from donating all or part 

12 of an organ as a condition of receiving a life insur13 ance policy, disability insurance policy, or long-term 

14 care insurance policy; 

15 (3) consider the status of a person as a living 

16 organ donor in determining the premium rate for 

17 coverage of such person under a life insurance pol18 icy, disability insurance policy, or long-term care in19 surance policy; or 

20 (4) otherwise discriminate in the offering, 

21 issuance, cancellation, amount of such coverage, 

22 price, or any other condition of a life insurance pol23 icy, disability insurance policy, or long-term care in24 surance policy for a person, based solely and without 

25 any additional actuarial risks upon the status of 

26 such person as a living organ donor. 


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•S 511 IS

1 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—A State insurance regulator 

2 may take such actions to enforce subsection (a) as are spe3 cifically authorized under the laws of such State. 

4 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) DISABILITY INSURANCE POLICY.—The term 

6 ‘‘disability insurance policy’’ means a contract under 

7 which an entity promises to pay a person a sum of 

8 money in the event that an illness or injury resulting 

9 in a disability prevents such person from working. 

10 (2) LIFE INSURANCE POLICY.—The term ‘‘life 

11 insurance policy’’ means a contract under which an 

12 entity promises to pay a designated beneficiary a 

13 sum of money upon the death of the insured. 

14 (3) LIVING ORGAN DONOR.—The term ‘‘living 

15 organ donor’’ means an individual who has donated 

16 all or part of an organ and is not deceased. 

17 (4) LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE POLICY.— 

18 The term ‘‘long-term care insurance policy’’ means 

19 a contract for which the only insurance protection 

20 provided under the contract is coverage of qualified 

21 long-term care services (as defined in section 

22 7702B(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986). 


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•S 511 IS

1 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF ORGAN DONATION SURGERY AS 

2 QUALIFYING AS A SERIOUS HEALTH CONDI3 TION UNDER FMLA. 

4 (a) PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES.—Section 101(11) 

5 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 

6 2611(11)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including recovery 

7 from surgery related to organ donation)’’ after ‘‘physical 

8 or mental condition’’. 

9 (b) FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES.— 

10 (1) DEFINITION.—Section 6381(5) of title 5, 

11 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘(in12 cluding recovery from surgery related to organ dona13 tion)’’ after ‘‘physical or mental condition’’. 

14 (2) RELATIONSHIP TO ORGAN DONOR LEAVE.— 

15 Section 6382(d) of title 5, United States Code is 

16 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An 

17 employee who takes any part of the 12-week period 

18 of leave under subsection (a)(1) to serve as an organ 

19 donor (including recovery from surgery related to 

20 organ donation) shall substitute, for as much of that 

21 part as possible, any leave available to the employee 

22 under section 6327.’’. 

23 SEC. 4. UPDATING OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS ON THE 

24 BENEFITS OF LIVE ORGAN DONATION. 

25 (a) EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS.— 


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•S 511 IS

1 (1) REVIEW AND UPDATING.—Not later than 6 

2 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

3 Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this 

4 section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall review 

5 and update materials related to live organ donation 

6 in order to educate the public on— 

7 (A) the benefits of live organ donation; and 

8 (B) the impact of live organ donation on 

9 the access of a living organ donor to insurance. 

10 (2) INFORMATION ON STATUTORY CHANGES.— 

11 Such updating shall include information on the 

12 changes made by sections 2 and 3 of this Act. 

13 (b) METHODS OF UPDATING.—In carrying out sub14 section (a), the Secretary shall update, as appropriate— 

15 (1) Public Service Announcements previously 

16 provided by the Secretary; 

17 (2) publicly accessible websites (such as 

18 organdonor.gov, or a successor website) that are 

19 maintained by the Secretary and that contain infor20 mation and resources regarding live organ donation; 

21 and 

22 (3) other media determined appropriate by the 

23 Secretary. 

Æ 


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