Check out our Patient Ambassador Spotlight, where we highlight members who elevate the voices of people with kidney disease.
This month’s Spotlight is on Alex Berrios from Louisville, Kentucky.
Alex was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2006. He started dialysis immediately and received his first kidney transplant just 18 months later. That kidney gave him 13 years, which he was able to spend working, living fully, and maintaining his health. Then, in 2020, his kidney failed and he returned to dialysis for five and a half years before receiving a second transplant in February 2026.
Throughout his second period on dialysis, Alex continued working and maintained private insurance through his employer. However, a recent Supreme Court decision made it possible for insurers to push dialysis patients off their private coverage prematurely, and onto Medicare. Now, instead of focusing on their health and figuring out a new way of life with dialysis treatments, patients are having to deal with the stress of changing insurance and forced into that chaos simply because they became sick.
That’s why Alex is urging his members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-KY, and U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both Republicans, to support the Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act. This bipartisan bill would protect new dialysis patients’ private insurance for the full 30 months before transitioning to Medicare.
Patient Ambassadors represent DPC by serving as leaders in their community and local dialysis facilities. Learn more about this critical role and make a difference in the lives of dialysis patients by applying for DPC's Patient Ambassador program.
