End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), commonly called kidney failure, changed my life. I was first diagnosed with kidney disease in 2014, and my kidneys totally failed in 2020 after a battle with covid-19. I relied on dialysis, the treatment which replaced my kidneys’ blood-filtering function, from 2020 until August of 2023 when I received a kidney transplant.
As an ESRD patient advocate lucky enough to have received a transplant, I feel obligated to call on Congressman French Hill to help future dialysis patients afford lifesaving dialysis care. He can do so by supporting the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act.
Since covid-19 caused my kidney failure, the government helped pay for my treatment. Others are not so lucky. I know friends and family who lost their private insurance coverage, enrolled in Medicare, and fell into dire financial straits from trying to pay the 20 percent that Medicare doesn’t cover.
The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act would allow new dialysis patients to keep full private insurance coverage for the first 30 months of care, which is what Congress enacted into law decades ago. I hope Congressman Hill helps dialysis patients avoid going bankrupt by supporting the bill!
Tony McDaniel, North Little Rock, Arkansas
