Welcome to Wednesday, May 5th, Mickeys and Minnies...

The House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy held a hearing Tuesday on reforming America’s "grossly inefficient" organ transplant system.

The hearing ― “The Urgent Need to Reform the Organ Transplantation System to Secure More Organs for Waiting, Ailing, and Dying Patients” ― featured testimony from stakeholders including patients on a waitlist for a transplant, a doctor who is a living donor, and experts on the transplant system. 

There are 107,000 Americans on an organ transplant waitlist, 33 of whom pass away each day before a transplant becomes available. Additionally, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who are undergoing dialysis and would benefit from a transplant but aren’t on a waitlist.

Much of the hearing focused on the role played by the nation’s 57 non-profit Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs), which are certified and regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

OPOs are granted a monopoly over their designated region and focus on obtaining organs from deceased donors, which account for over 80% of transplants.

Should there be reforms to the U.S. organ transplant system?

Combatting Racism Against Asian-Americans

Asian-American business leaders have launched a foundation to challenge anti-Asian discrimination amidst an increasing number of racial attacks against the community.

The Asian American Foundation raised $125 million from its board members to support Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations. It also raised another $125 million from organizations like Walmart, Coca-Cola, Amazon.com, the Ford Foundation, Bank of America, and the NBA.

The foundation plans to focus on three areas:

1. Supporting organizations and leaders who are measuring and challenging violence against Asian American and Pacific Islanders
2. Developing a data standard that tracks violence and hate incidents
3. Helping to create K-12 and college curriculums that “reflect the history of Asian American and Pacific Islanders as part of the American story.”

How do you feel about the initiative?

All The Memes Fit To Post
 

And, In The End...

It's Cinco De Mayo—which is not Mexican Independence Day (that's September 16).

In the 1960s, Chicano activists introduced the once-regional holiday to the U.S. Now, Americans from L.A. to N.Y. commemorate the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo,

—Josh Herman

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