Over Three Decades, Kidney Donors Increased by 186%

Currently, the U.S. government spends more than $114 billion each year on the 37 million patients with kidney disease. President Trump signed an executive order yesterday to mitigate some of the inefficiencies in how the healthcare system treats kidney disease. One of the major points of his plan compensates kidney donors for childcare and time-off of work, while recovering from the surgery.

The Trump administration aims to double the number of kidneys available for transplant by 2030 through this program. Kidney donors have increased by 186 percent over the past three decades. The highest growth has come from living donors, with the number of donors more than tripling over that same time period.

Some barriers remain to kidney donations that the executive order does not address. Namely, donors could still lose their life insurance or be charged higher insurance rates because they only have one kidney.