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DPC Fights for Patient Access in California

2024-03-29T01:13:33+00:00November 7th, 2019|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Improve Access to Care, Legal Defense, State Advocacy|

DPC is participating in a lawsuit against the state of California after a bill was passed by the Legislature that jeopardizes patient access to charitable assistance. The new law (known as Assembly Bill 290) was signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom last month. Conditions in the new law practically eliminates charitable assistance, which has helped thousands of low-income patients in California pay for their health insurance. The law will take effect January 1, 2020 unless the judge orders the delay DPC is requesting. DPC is fighting similar legislation in other states and will continue to protect dialysis patient access to [...]

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Patients and Advocacy Groups File Federal Lawsuit Against the State of California to Overturn AB 290

2024-03-29T01:13:33+00:00November 4th, 2019|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Improve Access to Care, Legal Defense, Press Release, State Advocacy|

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Two kidney failure patients, together with two patient advocacy groups—the American Kidney Fund (AKF) and Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC)—filed a federal lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against the State of California. The lawsuit, Doe vs. Becerra, asks the court to strike down AB 290, the newly enacted law that will do irreversible harm to dialysis and transplant patients who need charitable assistance to help them pay for health care. Filed against California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Shelley Rouillard, Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, and Susan Fanelli, Acting Director of the [...]

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DPC Advocates for Patient Access to Private Health Insurance

2024-03-29T01:13:33+00:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, Legal Defense, Private Insurance Coverage, Promote Financial Security|Tags: |

DPC filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit to protect patient access to private health insurance coverage. This is one of a number of lawsuits challenging discrimination by employer health plans in how they pay for dialysis. End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients are protected by the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP), which permits ESRD patients to remain on their private health insurance plans for 30 months before they must enroll in Medicare. To protect this right from being chipped away, Congress prohibited health plans from making any distinctions in how they cover dialysis relative to how other treatments or diseases are [...]

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Donor Protection Bill Signed into Law While Care Access Bill Now in the Hands of California Governor

2024-03-29T01:13:33+00:00September 23rd, 2019|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, State Advocacy, Take Action, Transplant Donor Protection|

As temperatures cool and the California legislature winds down from a flurry of late summer activity, two bills that would impact kidney disease patients recently landed on Governor Newsom’s desk for his signature or veto. We’re thrilled that the bill seeking to increase access to transplants by strengthening protections for living organ donors was just signed into law. This bill passed unanimously in the Senate, after a similar unanimous passage in the Assembly earlier this year. DPC supports this bill because it helps remove barriers for kidney donors. Specifically, it requires employers to extend an employee’s unpaid leave up to [...]

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DPC Advocates for Improved Patient Access to Care with State Lawmakers

2024-03-29T01:13:33+00:00September 11th, 2019|Categories: Article, Medigap Coverage, State Advocacy|

Last month, DPC spoke with lawmakers at the National Conference of State Legislatures about the importance of having access to a supplemental insurance like Medigap to help pay for the deductibles and co-pays not covered by Medicare. When Medigap plans were first introduced, Congress only guaranteed issue of these plans to traditional Medicare beneficiaries and therefore did not extend this protection to those who gain Medicare coverage prior to age 65, including people with end-stage renal disease. Currently, only 28 states offer Medigap plans to people on dialysis. People on dialysis face serious financial struggles in areas where Medigap coverage is not [...]

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Dialysis Issues Are Heating Up in California

2024-03-29T01:13:34+00:00August 6th, 2019|Categories: State Advocacy, Uncategorized|

With summer temperatures on the rise, so too are kidney care issues both nationally and in California, where dialysis policies in particular remain hot button topics despite the defeat of Proposition 8 last November by a relatively wide margin. In an effort to protect dialysis patients’ access to quality care, DPC continues to elevate the patient voice with policy makers while also committing even more resources on the ground. In fact, DPC recently established a new advocacy office in Sacramento less than a block from the State Capitol. We also hired Kelly Goss to serve as DPC’s new California State Advocacy Manager. [...]

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DPC’s Letter to the California Assembly About Quality Ratings

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 23rd, 2019|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Comment Letter, State Advocacy|

Assembly Member Jim Wood Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Assembly Member Chad Mayes Vice Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: Support for AB 1448 Dear Chairman Wood and Vice Chairman Mayes: With 32,000 dialysis patient members, over 4,000 of whom reside in California, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).  On behalf of California’s 70,000 ESRD patients and the DPC Board of Directors, I am writing to express our strong support for [...]

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Help DPC Protect Dialysis Access in Oregon, Illinois and California

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 18th, 2019|Categories: State Advocacy, Uncategorized|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) continues to work hard protecting dialysis patients by opposing three bills that would threaten access to quality care if passed. More than 468,000 Americans rely on dialysis treatments to stay alive. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with three bills, which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. These bills are: Senate Bill 900 – Oregon Senate Bill 650 – Illinois Assembly Bill 290 – California Specifically, we are concerned that these bills will cut reimbursement rates private insurance companies pay to cover dialysis care. [...]

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Take Action to Protect Dialysis Access in Oregon

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 2nd, 2019|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, State Advocacy|

Receiving dialysis treatment three times a week is critical for the survival of the 6,000 patients in Oregon with End-Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with Senate Bill 900, which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. Specifically, we are concerned that SB 900 will cut reimbursement rates private insurance companies pay to cover dialysis care. These reimbursement rates are crucial to dialysis facilities because Medicare does not cover the full cost of care for treating dialysis patients. Reduced payments may [...]

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Action Alert – DPC Supports Expanding Access to Organ Transplants in California

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00March 27th, 2019|Categories: State Advocacy, Uncategorized|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) continues its efforts to improve the quality of life for dialysis patients by advocating for an assembly bill in California that would expand access to organ transplants. Danny Iniguez, Secretary of DPC's Board of Directors and a resident of California, expressed the importance of passing Assembly Bill 1223 by highlighting the positive impact on both patients and organ donors and sharing his childhood experience with kidney failure. Starting at age 12 Iniguez was on and off dialysis as a result of a bicycle accident and had to wait over 10 years to receive a kidney transplant. [...]

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