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Financial Aspects of Living Donation

Many potential kidney donors have questions regarding the financial impact of becoming a donor. There will be both covered expenses (paid by the intended recipient's insurance) and non-covered expenses associated with evaluation and donation that potential donors need to consider carefully.

Covered Expenses 

The insurance of the intended recipient of your kidney (Medicare or private health insurance) covers the testing needed to see whether or not you can be a donor (called the evaluation process) as well as the surgery and hospitalization needed for the kidney donation.

In general, some follow-up/post-operative care is covered, but not all. The extent of covered follow-up care will vary depending on your recipient's insurance.

Non-Covered Expenses

In general, the following expenses are not covered by insurance, so should be considered "out-of-pocket" costs:

• Travel and hotel stay
• Childcare
• Elder care
• Follow-up costs (varies, see above)
• Lost wages (note: in some cases, donors may receive paid leave from their employer) (potential options include sick leave, state disability, and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA))
• Federal Employees 30 days paid leave for organ donation
• State Employees varies by state. For more information, download the  from the National Kidney Foundation.
• American Society of Transplantation's list of 

Why Do Donors Need Health Insurance if the Recipient's Insurance Pays for Everything?

All donors are required to have health insurance in the event that any medical issues/diagnoses arise during the course of their evaluation to be a donor.

In this instance, the recipient's insurance does not cover the donor's medical expenses, so the potential donor must have health insurance in place to ensure that they will be covered in such a circumstance.

Kidney donation may also be considered a pre-existing condition. Although current law largely prohibits the denial of insurance based on pre-existing conditions, some insurance companies are still allowed to deny coverage for this reason. This is another reason why obtaining health insurance prior to donation is important.

Impact on Insurability

In some cases, having been a kidney donor can impact the donor's ability to obtain both health insurance and life insurance. Therefore, it is highly recommended that people considering donation obtain these types of insurance prior to becoming a donor. 

Tax Deductions

New York: there is a $ 10,000 organ donation tax deduction. Living donors can deduct up to $10,000 on their state income taxes for donation-related expenses such as travel, lodging, and lost wages. To learn more about tax deductions and credits for living donors, visit the .

Legal Issues Related to Payment for Donation

The National Organ Transplantation Act of 1984 specifically prohibits the exchange of "valuable consideration" for a human organ ("It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation").

Therefore, it is illegal to sell organs; if this occurs, it is punishable by fines, imprisonment, or both.

However, the payment of "the expenses of travel, housing, and lost wages incurred by the donor of a human organ in connection with the donation of the organ" is expressly permitted by section 301 of NOTA.

Learn more about the Ìý(±è»å´Ú).

Scarring/Cosmetic Risks

Since the mid-to-late 1990's, advances in surgical techniques have dramatically improved the cosmetic result following living kidney donation.

Below, you can view pictures of scars from donors who have had the different types of surgical procedures to remove their kidney. Seeing this progression helps you to appreciate how much less invasive today's procedures are when compared to the open donor nephrectomy, and also demonstrates how these techniques have led to a significant reduction in the donor's recovery time. 

Laparoendoscopic Single Site Donor Nephrectomy Scar

The current standard of care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, a pioneering center of this technique.

Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy Scar

The way the donor surgery is currently performed at most centers that do not yet perform laparoendoscopic single site surgery.

Open Donor Nephrectomy Scar

The way the donor surgery was performed up until the mid- to late-1990's

Benefits of Kidney Donation

In many ways, the benefits of kidney donation are personal and cannot be known by anyone other than the person that is donating or has donated.

Each donor's motivations may vary greatly and each donor has a unique experience as they go through the journey of donating their kidney, from the initial decision to be evaluated as a potential donor to years after the donation occurs. 

The following information has been compiled from various research studies that have attempted to quantify the benefits and/or quality of life of kidney donors as a result of the donation.

To summarize the key findings:

• Kidney donors tend to have higher quality of life scores after donation, as compared to the general population. This may be related to an increase in the donor's self-esteem and an increased sense of well-being.
• Donors have similar or improved psychosocial health after donation.

In addition, the intense screening process that donors must undergo has helped some potential donors receive diagnoses that may benefit from early intervention, such as cancer.

At times, screening has led to early detection of the potential donor's own medical issues such as kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiac disease, which can benefit from early diagnosis and intervention.