To The REVIEW: When I lost my second kidney in my 50s, I was suddenly thrown into a world of dialysis, medical bills and fear. I was self-employed and carried my own insurance, but as my health declined, I became too sick to work. Dialysis is exhausting enough on its own. No patients should also have to spend months or years fighting to keep health coverage and stay financially afloat. Yet, that was my reality. It took two and a half years of fighting before I was finally approved for disability benefits. During that time, medical bills piled up, and [...]

My father, Earl, treated dialysis like going to work. Diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, he went on dialysis in 2014 and never let it slow him down. He lost weight, got healthier, and even won a Halloween costume contest that fall (my sister dressed him up as a wizard). He was in his 70s and furious about it. That photo is one of our family’s most treasured memories. Through his dialysis journey, I watched my dad find a new community and family at his clinic. I also saw firsthand how vulnerable that lifeline can be and how much [...]

When I was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease in 2017, I was working for a major U.S. airline carrier with strong health insurance coverage. During COVID, as a flight attendant and flight service duty manager with 30 years of experience, I accepted an early-out retirement package. Dialysis had made it increasingly difficult to continue working, and my doctor advised it, given my high risk. As part of that package, I kept active employee-rate health coverage for 36 months. This stability was invaluable and allowed me to delay enrolling in Medicare until the month of my transplant. No dialysis patient should [...]

I never imagined that before my 30th birthday, I would be diagnosed with kidney failure. But on Oct. 4, 2023, during my first year as an English teacher, that became my reality. I started dialysis at a clinic before transitioning to home hemodialysis. I’ve had to stop teaching, restructure my life around treatment and navigate a healthcare system I was unprepared for. When I was diagnosed, I didn’t yet have insurance through my job .I received temporary disability for a few months before being pressured to resign from a first-year contract with no job protections. No one told me I [...]

Kidney failure has taught me a thing or two. After 18 years on dialysis and receiving a kidney transplant, my life has changed drastically. In the initial 30 months of dialysis, dialysis patients have traditionally had the option to keep their private insurance in order to plan for their inevitable transition to Medicare. This planning period is especially important for patients who may no longer receive employer-provided insurance, since dialysis often prevents people from working. Yet, a recent Supreme Court decision allows private insurers to push dialysis patients onto Medicare too early and potentially leaving them with thousands of dollars [...]