In 2017, while working in Melbourne, Australia, I became unable to walk three city blocks without stopping to catch my breath. Within hours of reaching the ER,
I’d had two blood transfusions and was in the ICU. I found out one kidney had never fully developed, and the other was only 2% functional.
I spent 15 months on hemodialysis before receiving a transplant in 2018. Two and a half years later, my body rejected it. In August 2024, I was back on dialysis.
One in 3 Americans is at risk for kidney disease. That’s not a statistic lawmakers can afford to ignore. And yet, a 2022 Supreme Court ruling now allows private insurers to push dialysis patients off their coverage before the traditional 30-month protection window closes, leaving newly diagnosed patients, many of whom are completely blindsided by this disease, without the financial stability they need to focus on surviving.
Kidney disease doesn’t get the headlines that cancer and heart disease do. But 37 million Americans are living with it, and every single one of them deserves access to stable coverage and the time to navigate this new reality.
That’s why I’m urging U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields and U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy to support the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act. This bill protects patients’ private coverage for that 30-month buffer, allowing them the time and stability they need before transitioning to Medicare.
Awareness leads to education, education leads to empowerment, and this bill is a start.
Pesh Patel, Lafayette, New Orleans
