Dialysis Patient Citizens News
2021 Annual Survey Last Call!
24 hours remain to complete our survey. Make sure to complete your survey for a chance at one of 10 remaining $100 gift certificates. Our 2021 Annual Membership Survey is live, and it will remain open until Friday, August 27. Your feedback helps to shape our public policy agenda and patient education priorities for the next year. This year we ask that both patients and caregivers take our survey. Rest assured your responses will remain completely anonymous. We only share the overall survey results with state and [...]
Dialysis Patients Need Help. A New Medigap Bill is the Perfect Place to Start.
In 2004 my dad had his first dialysis treatment after flatlining from a heart procedure. We were not sure he would make it through the night as his organs were shutting down, but we were told that dialysis would help and at the time, we wanted to just do whatever was needed to save him. When my dad left the hospital, we were told that his kidneys would require dialysis in the future and his doctors would monitor him. Fast-forward to 2007, and we were informed that [...]
DPC Urges Medicare to Add Resources for Health Equity
DPC has filed its letter commenting on this year’s Medicare ESRD Proposed Rule, which governs payments to dialysis facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) heralded this year’s payment rules as undertaking new initiatives to reduce health disparities. DPC’s letter critiques these initiatives as insufficient and endorses alternative approaches. CMS is proposing to collect new data on racial disparities, and to stratify quality measures so that facilities serving disadvantaged patients no longer receive QIP payment reductions simply because patients are poor. DPC endorses these moves, but [...]
Action Alert – Support Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients
The BETTER Kidney Care Act (H.R. 4942/S. 2649) was reintroduced by Senators Young (R-IN) and Sinema (D-AZ), along with Representatives Blumenauer (D-OR), Butterfield (D-N), and Cardenas (D-CA). This bill would enhance access to care coordination services for thousands of patients across the United States currently living with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). It could also help with services not covered by Medicare such as dental care and transportation. Coordinated care is essential for improving the overall care and health of ESRD patients. Specifically, better care coordination could mean help [...]
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Medigap Bill A Welcome Change for Mississippi Dialysis Patients
Kristal pictured with her husband, Ernest Higgins. Photo by Cameron B. Potts My kidney transplant failing in 2017 changed my life. I went back on dialysis for the first time since 2012 and was spending more time in the hospital than I had before. Then, I lost my job and the insurance coverage it provided, and I had to go back on Medicare, which didn’t cover the whole cost of dialysis and forced me to pay up to 20 percent of the cost of my [...]
LETTER: Medigap Expansion is Needed
To the editor: As someone who has been on dialysis for 23 years, educating other patients and advocating for them gives my job meaning. I get to assist people who have gone through the same challenges I have and help people better understand exactly what life on dialysis is like. Through my work, I’ve seen how many patients struggle with high costs. A lot of patients rely on Medicare, but can have considerable out-of-pocket costs when it doesn’t cover what they need. This is especially true for [...]
Medigap Expansion Bill Vital to Making Treatments Affordable
Something felt a little off after my daughter was born. I started feeling more exhausted each day after work, and at one point one of my elementary school students even pointed out that I didn’t look well. I had always been perfectly healthy, so I never expected that I’d be diagnosed with kidney disease. But, after a referral to Johns Hopkins for care, doctors started me on dialysis right away. That’s when my long, difficult road with kidney disease began. Shortly after starting dialysis treatments – despite [...]
Letter to the Editor: Kidney disease patients are in need of new Medigap Expansion bill
As a kid, I remember watching my dad receive his dialysis treatments at home. Kidney disease runs in my family, and tragically it has taken not only my dad’s life, but many others in my family before their time. I received my own kidney disease diagnosis almost 20 years ago. Medical costs are rising and continue to rise for kidney patients, and it is a challenge to overcome the obstacles of what insurance does not cover. However, Medicare doesn’t always cover the cost of care for kidney disease [...]
Bill helps kidney patients get needed coverage
Starting dialysis in 2016 showed me there are a lot of challenges patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) face. There are major lifestyle differences, and treatments take several hours multiple days each week. While I can do these treatments from home at night, lots of other patients need to make trips to their local clinics, which takes an exhausting toll. One of the biggest challenges for many patients, though, is the cost of the treatments and medications. Over time, those costs get overwhelming and can force patients [...]
It Works When We Work Together – 2021 State Legislature Recap
Nearly two years ago, DPC expanded its advocacy footprint to establish a state advocacy program to complement our ongoing federal efforts and in response to states increasing their role in health care policy and the delivery system which impacts dialysis patients’ access to quality care. While Congress continues its work through the remainder of 2021, a majority of state legislatures have already adjourned for this calendar year. Forty-six (46) state legislatures hold annual regular sessions and four states (MT, ND, NV and TX) hold biennial regular sessions, [...]
Kidney patients need Medigap expansion
While my husband was on dialysis, and even since his kidney transplant, getting affordable coverage has felt impossible. If Medicare doesn’t cover something, we have to scramble to afford it, which was a massive challenge given his dialysis treatments got up to $15,000 and medications can cost $3,000 each month. This shouldn’t happen. We need lawmakers to pass bills that make coverage more accessible for patients, like the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act. It would help make Medigap coverage more accessible to dialysis patients under 65, [...]
Letter: Congress should expand Medigap coverage
For a lot of patients, starting dialysis means not being able to work anymore. Thankfully, with my job I can work from home when I’m doing my treatments, which has been hugely beneficial in helping me stay employed and get the coverage I need. The situation is very different for a lot of other patients, though, who can’t continue to work and get coverage. Instead, they rely solely on Medicare, which means if Medicare doesn’t fully cover a treatment or medication, they pay big out-of-pocket costs. That’s [...]
Voice of the Reader: Support the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act
To the Editor: There is a bill which would expand Medigap Coverage to Illinois patients who need it. My story with kidney disease goes back more than 10 years to when my mom stepped in and donated one of her kidneys to me. While that was an invaluable gift on her part, that transplant failed a few years ago, and I was put on aggressive medication that meant I was given a choice between my kidneys and my life. My own struggles have made me want to [...]
Urge Congress to Support the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act!
Expanding Medigap coverage for End-Stage Renal Disease patients of all ages is a critical step to eliminating financial barriers to care, especially when it comes to transplantation. Congresswomen Cynthia Axne (D-IA-03) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-03) recently introduced the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act (H.R. 1676) in honor of DPC founding Board member and our longest-serving president Jack Reynolds. This important bill would guarantee access to Medigap coverage for patients under 65 who suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). There are already 19 bi-partisan co-sponsors who are [...]
Dialysis patients need new Medigap bill
I was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) in 2016 when my kidneys began to fail. While I was undergoing dialysis, I received full coverage for my treatments and medications through disability insurance, but many other patients aren’t fortunate to have coverage and are left to pay massive medical bills. Thankfully, help is on the way. The Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress, would help dialysis patients who worry about their cost of care. This bill would expand Medigap coverage for [...]
CMS Proposes Changes to Medicare Payments for End-Stage Renal Disease
On July 1, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its ESRD Prospective Payment System (PPS) annual rulemaking. This proposed rule would update ESRD PPS payment rates, make changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP), and modify the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model for 2022. The proposed changes to the ETC Model policies aim to encourage dialysis providers to decrease disparities in rates of home dialysis and kidney transplants among ESRD patients with lower socioeconomic status, making the model the agency’s first CMS Innovation [...]
Letters to the Editor
One certainty in life is that all of us will be tested by circumstances out of our control. For me, it was kidney failure, and since 2007 I've been on dialysis. I'm very blessed that I was able to receive this care, and that I've been able to live a healthy and happy life thanks to the support of a loving family. However, a lot of dialysis patients today can't afford the lifesaving treatments they need. That's why it is so important to pass the Jack Reynolds [...]
Medigap expansion could clear major obstacle for kidney patients
After three difficult years on dialysis, I received a kidney transplant last fall through the Department of Veteran Affairs as a Marine Corps veteran. While I don't have dialysis treatments anymore, I keep touch with everyone I met at my dialysis center and find new ways to help patients. In these conversations, one topic seems to come up more than just about any other: high costs. Navigating Medicare, which many dialysis patients need for treatments, is a tricky and confusing process that gets more complicated if you [...]
To the Editor: Medigap coverage important for people in need
To the Editor: As a single mom, starting dialysis required a lot of shuffling so I could attend treatments while juggling my responsibilities as a parent. Thankfully, it didn’t require big out-of-pocket payments to cover what Medicare couldn’t, since Michigan requires insurers to provide dialysis patients like me with access to Medigap. I know the reality is different for patients in my situation in other states, so I’m happy to see members of Congress from both parties working on the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act, which [...]
Expanding Medigap coverage
I first started dialysis just over 20 years ago, and in that time I’ve done both home and in-center dialysis treatments in addition to receiving two kidney transplants. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough to have good coverage that kept my treatments affordable. As I’ve met other dialysis patients, I’ve realized just how rare that is. Many people with kidney disease receive their coverage through Medicare and if they are under 65, they can get hit with big bills that they have to pay out-of-pocket if [...]