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Happy Thanksgiving from DPC Board, Staff, and Volunteers!

2024-03-29T01:09:15+00:00November 21st, 2023|Categories: Access to Transplant, Article, Medigap Coverage, News, Private Insurance Coverage|

DPC would like to wish our many patient advocates, family, friends, and healthcare partners a happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful for all of these hard-working individuals and for their dedication to the kidney community, as well as their effort to help elevate the patient voice. This year, our patient advocates helped to secure passage of critical legislation at the federal level to help modernize the transplant system. We also worked hard to educate hundreds of policy makers about the importance of protecting dialysis patient access to private insurance coverage, as well as the need to provide access to Medicare secondary [...]

Dialysis

2024-03-29T01:09:15+00:00November 19th, 2023|Categories: Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage|

Ten years ago while working for an airline my life changed. I was diagnosed with kidney failure, and I learned I'd need dialysis to survive. Eight years of dialysis and a transplant later, I am writing now to advocate for kidney patients everywhere. For three years, I received dialysis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Despite initial difficulties, my dialysis care was relatively seamless. When I returned to the United States, Medicare required that I submit a plethora of paperwork. I had to pay out-of-pocket for more than 18 months while waiting for Medicare. Dialysis should not be more affordable in [...]

Medicare Must Increase Access to Improvements in Dialysis Care

2024-03-29T01:09:16+00:00October 6th, 2023|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Innovation, Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage, Treatment Options|

For people who live with a chronic illness, one of the most powerful words in the English language is hope. As a more than 20-year dialysis patient with end-stage renal disease, otherwise known as kidney failure, hope is a driving force in my life. My condition may never be cured, but new treatments are under development that could ease my symptoms. Every day, I hold out hope that a new, revolutionary treatment is around the corner that could help me and thousands like me live a more comfortable life. Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is becoming a [...]

DPC Elevates Patient Advocacy Work to State Lawmakers

2024-03-29T01:09:16+00:00August 17th, 2023|Categories: Article, Medigap Coverage, Policy Issues, State Advocacy|

Over August 14 – 16, 2023, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) spent time advocating for dialysis patients at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Annual Legislative Summit, held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Yolanda Brisbane, Grassroots Manager and State Advocacy Directors, Elizabeth Lively and Pamela Zielske spoke with lawmakers from across the nation about issues that impact dialysis patients. With more than 6,000 legislators and staff in attendance, the NCSL conference was a tremendous opportunity to elevate our advocacy work with state policymakers. Conversations also extended to delegations from around the globe, as attendees from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Portugal, India, Brazil, Germany, [...]

OP-ED Calls for equal Medigap coverage for all Medicare Enrollees

2024-03-29T01:09:16+00:00August 8th, 2023|Categories: Article, Medigap Coverage|

In a compelling opinion piece authored by Rich Sutphin, Executive Director of the West Virginia Rural Health Association, the call was made to West Virginia policymakers to ensure that their constituents were treated equally regarding access to affordable Medicare Supplement (Medigap) insurance coverage. The opinion piece was picked up by newspapers across the state, including The Herald Dispatch, The Weston Democrat, Mineral News and Tribune, The Jackson Star and Herald, The Wayne County News, The Preston County News and Journal and the West Virginia Press Association. You can read the op-ed here: https://wvpress.org/wvpa-sharing/opinion-west-virginia-kidney-patients-deserve-access-to-care-at-any-age/ DPC invites you to share your story in [...]

Affordable Medigap Access Now Available in Rhode Island, Kentucky and Virginia Coming Soon!

2024-03-29T01:09:16+00:00July 25th, 2023|Categories: Article, Medigap Coverage, News, Patient Ambassadors, State Advocacy|

During 2022 and 2023, DPC worked tirelessly to secure passage of legislation providing access to affordable Medigap coverage for under age 65 kidney failure patients living in three states. Those states – Kentucky, Rhode Island and Virginia, are creating regulations to implement the new state laws. The law in Rhode Island became effective July 1, 2023. In Kentucky and Virginia, the laws passed this year become effective January 1, 2024. If you live in one of these states and are not yet age 65, check with your dialysis facility finance or social workers to learn more about the Medigap Plans being [...]

Local View: Bridging the Medigap

2024-03-29T01:09:17+00:00July 18th, 2023|Categories: Medigap Coverage, Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage|

Published in the Lincoln Journal Star We hear endless stories in the news about challenges in our health care system, but oftentimes the effects feel abstract. As someone who has dedicated their career to improving the medical care and outcomes of patients with kidney disease through transplantation, I’ve seen firsthand how devastating kidney failure can be, particularly for Nebraskans who don’t have adequate health coverage. While the situation is grave, our neighboring states have shown how state governments can provide life-saving relief. We would be wise to follow their lead. More than 3,000 Cornhuskers are living with kidney failure, and [...]

Nebraska resident rallies for LB-32

2024-03-29T01:09:17+00:00June 21st, 2023|Categories: Patient Stories in the News, Private Insurance Coverage|

NEBRASKA -- Fifteen states do not require insurers to offer Medigap policies to people under 65 who are already enrolled through Medicare according to AARP. Medigap helps patients to afford deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs with policies such as Medicare Part B. However, Nebraska is one of those states that doesn't require it to be offered, to the shock of one North Platte resident named Jean Kay battling multiple sclerosis. "It was mind-boggling," said Kay. Jean Kay has been living with MS for over 20 years. Back in 2018, she was denied supplemental insurance due to her age of 61, [...]

I Received a Kidney Transplant, but Concerns about Coverage Remain

2024-03-29T01:09:17+00:00June 20th, 2023|Categories: Blog, Medigap Coverage, Patient Ambassadors, Patient's Voice, Private Insurance Coverage|

Ruben Garcia, Webster, Texas After years on dialysis, I was fortunate to receive a kidney transplant. While I am grateful to be off dialysis, its emotional and financial burdens will take years to recover from. When I started dialysis I had no private insurance and was 100% reliant on Medicare. Medicare, however, only covers 80 percent of each treatment. I couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t live without these treatments. Medicare also does not cover all costs of kidney transplants and the medications needed afterward. Going through dialysis while wondering [...]

Dialysis Patient Citizens Mourns the Loss of Terry Peeler

2024-03-29T01:09:17+00:00June 1st, 2023|Categories: Article, Board Members, Medigap Coverage|

It is with a heavy heart that Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) Board, staff, and volunteers learned of the passing of one of our Board Members, Terry Peeler. Terry was the first African American full-time Fire Chief and paramedic in Sumter County, Alabama, appointed in the year 2000. He proudly served as a firefighter and paramedic for the City of Livingston, Alabama. He was also elected Sumter County Coroner in 1999, a position he had been re-elected to. In October of 2016, Terry was diagnosed with end stage kidney disease and had to start dialysis, which meant retiring from his career as [...]

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