Kidney donors who are living a healthy life often face futile post-donation problems related to seeking or changing health or life insurance, a latest Johns Hopkins research says.
Researchers surveyed 1,046 kidney donors at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1970 and 2011. The team asked the participants whether they had started or changed health or life insurance in the years after their donation. They were also asked about the problems they faced with the process.
The team found that among 395 donors who tried to initiate or change health insurance after donation, 7 percent said they faced problems. Around 15 were denied health insurance totally, 12 were charged a higher premium and eight were told that donating a kidney was a "pre-existing condition."
"Living donors are some of the healthiest people in the United States. They're heavily screened before they're approved for donation and should be easily insurable," Segev, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.S., an associate professor of surgery and epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University, said in the press release.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does not permit health insurance companies to refuse coverage to living kidney donors and also cannot charge them a higher rate. However, ACA does not apply to life insurance and according to the study; it was a more common source of difficulty than health insurance.
"There are about 100,000 people in the U.S. who have altruistically donated a kidney," Segev added. "Insurance companies should make a strong effort on behalf of people who perform this selfless act to make sure that they're well taken care of."
Certain problems during the procedures crop up due to misinterpretation of kidney function tests needed for securing some health or life insurance policies.
The study was published in the American Journal of Transplantation.
