Press Releases

Today, Congressional Kidney Caucus Co-Chairs Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Larry Bucshon (IN-08) called on the Biden administration to prioritize investments in kidney innovation and research in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Executive Budget. In a letter signed by 18 members of Congress, the lawmakers urged the administration to include $25 million for KidneyX, a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology, to accelerate chronic kidney disease research and improve kidney care.

“For KidneyX to meet its full potential and continue to foster the development of technologies such as a wearable or implantable artificial kidney and xenotransplantation, the federal government must increase its support for KidneyX by including $25 million for KidneyX in the FY 2023 President’s Budget,” wrote the lawmakers. “Including a full $25 million for KidneyX in the FY 2023 President’s Budget would allow the program to expand its record of success and continue to drive innovation for people with kidney diseases.”

More than 37 million Americans—disproportionately people of color—are living with chronic kidney disease today, and nearly 800,000 are living with kidney failure, a life-threatening, incurable condition. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare dedicated $130 billion, or 25 percent of all traditional Medicare fee-for-service spending, to the care of all kidney diseases, including $50 billion, or 7 percent of Medicare fee-for-service spending, to manage kidney failure alone.

The letter can be found here.