Dear Editor:
This December marks three years in my battle with kidney disease. My kidney failure diagnosis was hard to pin down, and without my husband, I am not sure I would still be here. 
My diagnosis came with a lot of things you’d expect: many hours spent in doctors’ offices and at dialysis treatment centers. What I didn’t know is that this diagnosis would also eventually put me in the hospital, with medical bills racking up the entire time
Of course, dialysis alone is expensive, especially when patients must pay for any costs that Medicare doesn’t cover. And, for many dialysis patients, they also have to manage a lot of communication between different doctors’ and specialists’ prescribed care plans and medications to ensure they’re working cohesively. In those cases, managing the dialysis treatments, the doctors’ appointments, the treatment plans, and a portion of the costs all fall on the patient. The last thing dialysis patients need is to have to coordinate their own care and work between doctors.
While I thankfully haven’t had to do that for my own treatments, Congress should step in to help those who do. I am hoping Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., supports the BETTER Kidney Care Act, which would make it easier for doctors to coordinate treatment plans for kidney patients.
Denise Kempe, Lake Havasu City, Arizona
