The bill protects living kidney donors from life-insurance discrimination and creates federal enforcement rights, but it raises compliance, litigation, and potential premium costs for insurers and policyholders.
Living kidney donors will be able to obtain life insurance without being denied coverage or charged higher rates solely because they donated a kidney.
Donors who experience discrimination can sue in federal court and recover damages and attorney’s fees, strengthening enforcement and deterring insurer misconduct.
States and localities can preserve or maintain stronger protections for donors, allowing more generous consumer safeguards to remain in place locally.
Insurers will incur higher compliance and litigation costs, which could be passed through to policyholders as higher premiums.
The new private right of action will likely increase lawsuits against insurers, creating legal uncertainty and administrative burden for insurance companies.
Requiring insurers to justify adverse underwriting actions with actuarial evidence may trigger disputes over what constitutes sufficient actuarial basis, leading to more litigation and contested determinations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars life insurers from discriminating against living kidney donors solely for donor status and creates a private right to sue.
Official title: To prohibit life insurance providers from discriminating based on a person's status as a living kidney donor, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 19, 2025 by Jefferson Van Drew · Last progress May 19, 2025
Prohibits life insurers from denying, canceling, charging higher premiums for, or otherwise discriminating in life insurance based solely on a person’s status as a living kidney donor, unless the insurer can show actuarial risk unrelated to the donation. Gives harmed donors a private right to sue in federal district court for damages and attorneys’ fees, and preserves stronger state or local protections.