Editor: I spent seven years on dialysis — the only treatment outside of a transplant for kidney failure — before receiving a kidney transplant in 2023. Every day I
spent hooked up to that machine was a reminder of how fragile life becomes when your kidneys fail.
Before my diagnosis, I was healthy; I was an athlete and musician. But after my diagnosis, I lost my job and my employer insurance with it. Bills piled up fast. It wasn’t until a social worker helped me apply for Medicare and Medicaid that I got the coverage I needed .But I know not everyone is that lucky.
While Medicare offers vast coverage to those with kidney failure, too often, the program creates barriers for patients interested in accessing new treatments. The coverage for innovative products lasts for two years, but reimbursement for those products dwindles after that period — leaving patients and providers without access.
The Kidney Care Access Protection Act would fix that. It would extend Medicare payments for innovative drugs and devices and ensure equitable payments to dialysis providers and the patients they serve.
I urge Congress to pass this bill and give hope to thousands of dialysis patients like me.
Albert Brisbane, Rensselaer, New York
