Smith, Schweikert Investigate Allegations of Foreign Nationals Jumping U.S. Organ Transplant Line

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert (AZ-01) are demanding the University of Chicago Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in New York turn over documents following reports that the tax-exempt organizations are transplanting organs procured from American donors into wealthy foreign recipients who are traveling to the United States for the sole purpose of jumping waiting lines to receive an organ transplant. The letter makes clear that failure to comply with these requests by February 10, 2026 will result in the issuance of subpoenas.

The allegations, first reported by the New York Times, are especially alarming given these medical centers likely bypassed American patients on the organ waiting list, potentially resulting in the loss of American life. Evidence also suggests these non-profit hospitals have not only prioritized wealthy foreign nationals for organ transplants but have entered into contracts with foreign governments and have aggressively advertised these services abroad, while highlighting the short wait times and concierge services that they offer.

Chairman Jason Smith said, "If U.S. hospitals who enjoy lucrative taxpayer-funded benefits have prioritized foreign nationals for organ transplants over saving American lives, they should have their tax-exempt status terminated. America First means prioritizing American lives, not your bottom line. The Ways and Means Committee will leave no stone unturned and is prepared to utilize every tool at our disposal, including subpoenas, in pursuit of the truth. I look forward to Montefiore Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center's full cooperation."

Chairman David Schweikert said, "Organ donation rests on a fundamental promise that Americans willing to give the gift of life, and taxpayers who help fund the system, are not pushed to the back of the line for someone who can wire money from overseas. If a tax-exempt hospital is running what amounts to a concierge transplant program for wealthy foreign nationals while our own citizens wait, that is a breach of public trust and of the spirit of the tax code. Our committee is going to follow the math and the receipts, contracts, financials, transplant data, and if the facts show American patients were treated as second-class, then Congress has an obligation to step in and fix it."

The letters to the University of Chicago Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center come amid an ongoing Ways and Means Committee investigation into the United States organ transplant system, which has resulted in the Trump Administration decertifying one organ procurement organization (OPO) - the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency in Miami. As part of that ongoing investigation, the Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee held a hearing in December where witnesses shared shocking stories of organ donations gone terribly wrong, as well as testimony that highlights the need for greater accountability and transparency in the OPO sector.

You can read the full text of the letter here.

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