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House Hearing on Healthcare Issues Considers Kidney Care Bills

2026-09-21T18:56:24+00:00September 16th, 2026|Categories: Article, Increase Quality of Care, Innovation, Medicare Advantage, News, Policy Issues, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care|

A September 15th hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee titled Examining Legislative Proposals to Reform Medicare Provider Payment had an important DPC priority on its agenda. In his opening statement, Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, mentioned that “two bills before us today are the Kidney Care Access Protection Act and the Keeping Individuals with Dialysis Needs Equipped through Year-round Remote Monitoring Act, which both aim to improve care access for individuals affected by kidney disease.” HR 6214, the Kidney Care Access Protection Act, is one of DPC’s top advocacy priorities. The bill would ensure [...]

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Kidney failure patient implores Congress to pass Kidney Care Access Protection Act

2026-09-03T16:32:00+00:00September 2nd, 2026|Categories: Increase Quality of Care, Innovation, Patient Ambassadors, Patient Stories in the News|

Dear Editor: In 2015, I was raising my family, preparing for law school, and building a future I believed in. Then, seemingly overnight, my life changed; I was diagnosed with kidney failure. The years that followed were some of the hardest I’ve ever faced. I’m beyond grateful that I received a kidney transplant in 2021, but the road there was long, painful, and at times, discouraging. What stands out most from that journey is just how outdated and underfunded kidney care in this country still is. Medicare doesn’t go far enough to support dialysis centers or encourage the kind of [...]

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Dialysis Act would give patients more stability, options

2026-08-28T15:32:07+00:00August 28th, 2026|Categories: Medigap Coverage, Patient Ambassadors, Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage, Promote Financial Security|

I was first diagnosed with kidney failure in 2005 and immediately started emergency dialysis. It was a shock, but I wasn’t about to let it stop me. I began peritoneal dialysis (PD) at home so I could keep working as a teacher and a detention center tutor. Even while managing treatment, I continued to show up for my students every day. After a successful kidney transplant in 2015, I got almost ten years of freedom from dialysis. But when my transplanted kidney began to fail again in 2023, I returned to PD late last year. I’m back on the transplant [...]

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Lifesaving

2026-08-27T17:57:20+00:00August 27th, 2026|Categories: Medigap Coverage, Patient Ambassadors, Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage, Promote Financial Security|

A recent Supreme Court decision allows private insurers to push new dialysis patients — those who take a frequent treatment for kidney failure to survive — off their plans they’ve worked hard to keep. It’s a direct assault on the lives of dialysis patients across America. Forcing patients off their private insurance immediately after diagnosis — often within months — is unjust. I’ve lived on dialysis for over four years, endured the pain of needles tearing through my skin twice daily, and fought to keep my dignity in a system that often prioritizes profits over people. I’ve been lucky; I [...]

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DPC Patient Ambassador Spotlight – Pesh Patel

2026-08-26T15:06:40+00:00August 26th, 2026|Categories: Featured Spotlight, Get Involved, Patient Ambassadors, Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage, Spotlight|

Check out our Patient Ambassador Spotlight, where we highlight members who elevate the voices of people with kidney disease. This month’s Spotlight is on Pesh Patel from Lafayette, New Orleans. In 2017, while working in Melbourne, Australia, Pesh became unable to walk three city blocks without stopping to catch his breath. He was rushed to the hospital, where he found out that one of his kidneys had never fully developed, and the other was only 2% functional. Pesh then spent 15 months on hemodialysis before receiving a transplant in 2018. Two and a half years later though, his body rejected [...]

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DPC Responds to Medicare Dialysis Payment Rule

2026-08-26T14:47:07+00:00August 26th, 2026|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, News, Policy Issues, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care|

DPC submitted comments on Medicare’s proposed payment update for 2027. DPC urged CMS to change its current policies, which continue to cause financial stress to dialysis care, staffing shortages, and lack of patient access to new and innovative therapies. For 2027, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to increase the ESRD PPS base rate to $299.55, which will increase total payments to ESRD facilities by approximately 1.1%. However, DPC notes, the current inflation rate is 3.4%, the Wall Street Journal’s expert panel of economists forecasts 3.4% inflation for the next year, and the most recent producer price [...]

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DPC’s Letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on CMS-1846-P: CY 2027 Changes to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System, Acute Kidney Injury Dialysis (AKI) Payment, and ESRD Quality Incentive Program

2026-08-25T14:49:06+00:00August 24th, 2026|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care|

August 24, 2026 The Honorable Mehmet Oz, Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20001 Re:       CMS-1846-P: CY 2027 Changes to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System, Acute Kidney Injury Dialysis (AKI) Payment, and ESRD Quality Incentive Program Dear Dr. Oz Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) offers comments on the above referenced Rule. DPC's membership, currently about 35,000, is restricted to kidney disease patients and their family members. DPC is a patient-led organization.  Our by-laws require that the President, Vice President and at least 51% of the Board be current dialysis patients.  The [...]

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NCSL 2026 Recap

2026-08-26T14:49:42+00:00August 3rd, 2026|Categories: Article, Medigap Coverage, News, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care, State Advocacy|

The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) welcomed more than 7,000 attendees to its Legislative Summit in Chicago July 27-29. DPC was thrilled to participate in this bipartisan event as part of our legislative advocacy work at the state level. Megan Hashbarger, Senior Vice President of Government Relations, and State Advocacy Directors, Elizabeth Lively and Pamela Zielske, attended the event and shared updates on DPC’s critically important work in the states to increase access to affordable Medigap coverage. Over the course of the Summit, we heard numerous stories from attendees who have family members or friends facing kidney disease. Legislators or [...]

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Advocacy Day 2026

2026-07-23T14:32:39+00:00July 20th, 2026|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Get Involved, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, Innovation, Medigap Coverage, News, Patient Ambassadors, Policy Issues, Private Insurance Coverage, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care|

During June 29th – 30th, DPC hosted our annual Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. bringing together patients, family members, and care partners to meet with their Members of Congress to help elevate the dialysis patient voice. This year, 62 advocates attended our fly-in from 29 states, meeting with more than 90 Members of Congress and/or their staff. Advocates spoke with their Senators and Representative urging support for the Restore Act (H.R. 2199/S. 1173), which would allow patients to keep their private insurance coverage for the full 30-month transition period, and for the Kidney Care Access Protection Act (S. 2730 / H.R. 6214), [...]

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A better life

2026-07-28T19:55:09+00:00July 19th, 2026|Categories: Increase Quality of Care, Innovation, Patient Ambassadors, Patient Stories in the News|

I was 16 when I started dialysis. I spent 17.5 years in treatment before receiving a transplant nearly 10 years ago. But a transplant isn’t a cure — it’s another type of treatment for my kidney failure, one that still requires lifelong medications, labs and procedures. Even with coverage, I’ve seen how hard it can be for patients to access treatments they need. Too many people I’ve met on this journey, including those in my local kidney support group, struggle to get therapies that could improve their quality of life, like treatments for pruritus, anemia, phosphorous control or infection prevention. [...]

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