Practical Approaches to Mitigating Economic Barriers to Living Kidney Donation for Patients and Programs

Purpose: Live donor kidney transplantation has superior outcomes to deceased donor transplantation; however, the number of living kidney donors continues to decrease in the USA. This is in part attributed to economic barriers. Recent Findings: The significant economic barriers that exist include out-of-pocket expenses, loss or increased costs of insurability, and potential loss of employment. This paper describes the economic barriers to living kidney donation and national, local, and private sector initiatives needed to alleviate these barriers. Summary: Ongoing attention to economic barriers is needed including improvement in reimbursement for travel, a process for coverage of lost wages and civil protection so that healthy willing donors may proceed with their desire to be a living kidney donor.