Kidney Patients Back Bipartisan Bill to Expand Disability Employment

U.S. Representatives Hoyer and Sessions Lead AbilityOne Modernization Bill

Kidney Disease and Jobs are Focus of National Disability Employment Month

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the nation's oldest and largest independent kidney patient advocacy organization, today announced plans to accelerate national grassroots patient advocacy in support of bipartisan legislation that will modernize the federal AbilityOne program. The American Procurement Improvement Act (APIA), H.R. 10443, is championed by U.S. Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). AAKP defines kidney disease as both an American healthcare and workforce issue and fights to expand career opportunities and job protections for all Americans impacted by kidney disease, disabilities, and chronic diseases.

The AbilityOne program creates private sector employment opportunities for over 41,000 Americans with severe vision and other disabilities, including nearly 3,000 American Veterans. In FY 2025, the program generated nearly 48 million direct labor hours, an 8 percent increase and a significant measure of disability employment growth, with workers working and working more hours. AbilityOne delivered more than $4.7 billion in products and services to the Federal government in FY 2025 and drew discouraged workers into the U.S. labor force while supporting greater workforce participation, increasing economic independence, and self-sufficiency. The AbilityOne mission taps the underutilized workforce of people with significant disabilities to deliver high-quality, mission-essential products and services to federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The APIA legislation removes outdated statutory barriers to hiring, retention, advancement, and movement into careers of choice, including emerging fields and new lines of business. It also modernizes federal procurement by aligning AbilityOne with contemporary procurement practices and streamlines procurement processes so the program can respond faster to emerging federal agency priorities. The APIA legislation protects taxpayer interests, strengthens program accountability and stewardship by preserving oversight, transparency, and worker protections while modernizing AbilityOne Commission authorities. The legislation is seen as an opportunity to improve federal procurement and strengthen the federal government's domestic supplier base.

Over 36 million Americans live with kidney disease, over 600,000 are on dialysis, and nearly 100,000 are awaiting a kidney transplant. Further, interrelated cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic diseases have impacted more than 25% of the adult population and are a leading cause of death. More broadly, the American Heart Association estimates that 90% of U.S. adults, or about 240 million people, have some degree of interconnected cardiovascular, kidney, or metabolic health conditions. For kidney patients dependent upon status-quo, in-center hemodialysis, burdensome thrice-weekly dialysis sessions force many patients, against their own choosing, into unemployment, disability, and dependency. AAKP believes dialysis-related unemployment, and the associated costs borne by families and taxpayers, is one of the media's least-reported stories in legacy kidney care. AAKP's policy agenda focuses on transplant readiness, more opportunities for organ transplants, more flexible, patient-centered home dialysis solutions, and stronger job protections for both kidney patients and living organ donors.

AAKP President Edward V. Hickey, III, a chronic kidney disease patient, stated, "AAKP strongly endorses the American Procurement Improvement Act (APIA) and expresses our deepest gratitude to Representatives Steny Hoyer and Peter Sessions for their bipartisan leadership and commitment to Americans managing disabilities and their efforts to secure meaningful employment opportunities with solid wages. People impacted by disability and chronic diseases face tremendous hurdles to continued employment and return to the workforce - especially America's proud Veterans. This legislation reflects consensus language among stakeholders, including advocates, employers, and organized labor, and sends a very positive message, amid national economic concerns, that the voices and needs of disabled Americans and their families are heard and not forgotten by the U.S. Congress. We encourage Congress to step up and pass this legislation before the close of the year." Hickey is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, a former senior congressional aide, and has served in appointed roles in two presidential administrations, including the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). At OPM, he was heavily involved in policy issues related to federal Veterans preference in civil service hiring and expanded federal job opportunities. He currently serves on the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Nephrology Specialty Board and as the Chair of the AAKP Veterans Health Initiative, the largest kidney health outreach program outside of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

October is National Disability Employment Month, and AAKP and its allies remind elected and appointed government leaders to address health and employment concerns that impact patients, families, and communities. Through multiple partnerships, AAKP leads the kidney community in providing kidney patients and transplant recipients, including Veterans, access to virtual job fairs and employment skills training opportunities. AAKP is currently sponsoring virtual job fairs, in partnership with CareerEco, on January 13, 2027, and May 18, 2027, that will service Veterans and military families. AAKP's past collaborations have included webinars with Idealist and virtual disability and Veteran hiring fairs with Bender Consulting.

AAKP Vice President and Chair of Policy and Global Affairs Paul T. Conway, a 49-year kidney patient and 29-year transplant recipient, stated, "The AbilityOne program has supported private sector employment for people managing disabilities and chronic diseases for nearly ninety years and reflects the exceptional American values of self-reliance and independence. Representatives Steny Hoyer and Pete Sessions have consistently shown respect for the creativity, talents, and skills of disabled citizens and have dedicated their public careers to expanding job opportunities in the workforce and across the federal supply chain. The American Procurement Improvement Act increases accountability for taxpayer funds and will result in more well-paying jobs for Americans whose desire and capacity to work and contribute are underappreciated." Conway is a former Chief of Staff for both the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and a former Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has overseen multiple federal and state disability employment, workforce training, and health service programs throughout his public career. He is the past Chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) and serves on the Observational Study Monitoring Board of the Kidney Precision Medicine Program (KPMP) administered by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK).

To advance the APIA, AAKP is working with former U.S. Representative Tony Coelho, Chair of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care as well as the Alliance for Expanding America's Workforce. Along with AAKP, APIA is endorsed by over 60 national patient and disability organizations, labor unions and employers including the American Association of People with Disabilities, SEIU, Bender Consulting, National Council of SourceAmerica Employers, CEO Commission for Disability Employment, the Arc of the United States, National Organization on Disability, National Down Syndrome Society, National Disability Rights Network, National Federation of the Blind, Melwood Inc., WORK Inc., ORC Industries, Employment Source, Opportunity Center, Inc., PARC, ACHIEVE Human Services, Inc., Human Technologies, InspiriTec, PORTCO Inc, PRIDE Industries, Phoenix, Pueblo Diversified Industries, and the Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst (APSE).

AAKP, alongside a broad and diverse coalition of patient organizations, transplant experts, and Congressional allies, is also working to secure passage of the Living Donor Protection Act (LDPA), S. 1552/H.R. 4582 and H.R. 4583, in 2026. The bipartisan bill protects living organ donors from job and insurance discrimination based solely on their decision to donate a kidney to save another life, barriers cited most often by potential organ donors. The bipartisan legislation is led by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). It was voted out of the Senate HELP Committee on February 26, 2026, with full bipartisan support, the endorsement of AAKP, the larger kidney community, and the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI).

In 2018, with bipartisan support from Congress and the Trump Administration, AAKP and transplant professionals worked with the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) legal team and the DOL Wage and Hour Division to have DOL issue Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protections for living organ donors, based on the original intent of the FMLA's Congressional co-sponsors (click here to read the letter and click here to watch the video). Congressional passage of the LDPA in 2026 will codify the DOL's 2018 FMLA job protections and prohibit insurers from discriminating against living donors. Increased living organ donation, improved transplant readiness among kidney patients, and greater opportunities for transplantation have been national goals for decades and were reinforced in 2019 through the Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health.

Follow AAKP on social media at @kidneypatient on Facebook, @kidneypatients on X, and @kidneypatients on Instagram, and visit https://aakp.org/ for more information. AAKP patient advocates advance bipartisan kidney policy including: passage of the bipartisan law modernizing the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) (2023); lifetime transplant drug coverage for kidney patients (2020); the historic Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health signed by President Donald Trump (2019); job protections for living organ donors under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) via the U.S. Department of Labor (2018); and Congressional approval of HIV positive organ transplants for HIV positive patients (2013).

MEDIA CONTACT:
Brendan LaCivita
National and Medical Media Specialist
[email protected]
(813) 906-7740

SOURCE American Association of Kidney Patients