The GIFT Act of 2025 would amend Medicare law (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) to ensure that a patient’s vaccination status cannot be used by hospitals when deciding which individuals should receive an organ transplant. Specifically, it adds a new prohibition applicable to hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals, requiring them to ignore vaccination status in making organ allocation determinations. The goal is to promote fairness and prevent discrimination in organ transplant decisions based on whether a patient is Vaccinated or not. Impactfully, this codifies into law a constraint on how transplant eligibility and prioritization can be considered by certain hospital types, potentially shaping how transplant waitlists and recipient selection are managed across the Medicare program.
Key Points
- 1Short title: The act may be cited as the Guaranteeing Individual Fairness in Transplants Act of 2025, or the GIFT Act of 2025.
- 2Core prohibition: For hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals, vaccination status must not be used to determine which individual should receive an organ transplant.
- 3Legislative change: The bill amends Section 1866(a)(1) of the Social Security Act by adding a new subparagraph (Z) that codifies the vaccination-status prohibition in organ recipient selection.
- 4Scope for certain facilities: The prohibition explicitly applies to hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals, rather than all healthcare facilities.
- 5Policy purpose: Aims to ensure fairness in organ allocation and reduce potential bias or discrimination based on a patient’s vaccination status.