Protect dialysis access
To the Editor: All dialysis patients are required to have Medicare as their primary insurer after 30 months from when they start dialysis, but the law has always allowed us to keep our private insurance until then if we wanted. Now, a Supreme Court decision from 2022 may allow private insurers to reduce coverage of many life-saving dialysis services.
Keeping coverage after starting dialysis provides stability during a very difficult time. After this ruling, dialysis patients may have to worry about the hassle of switching to Medicare at the same time they worry about starting dialysis.
The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patient Act would clarify that private insurers must continue supporting dialysis patients as they have in the past. I hope my representative, Chris Pappas, will stand with us and vote in support of this bill.
Pius Murray, Dover, New Hampshire
