Dear family & friends,
As many of you know I was a living kidney donor in June 2004. Recently, the gal I donated to contacted me in a panic because she had just learned that Medicare was going to stop helping cover her immuno-suppressant drugs and she could not afford them on her own. Without these drugs her body will reject the kidney I gave her and she will need to go back onto dialysis and eventually be re-transplanted. This is a terrible loophole that kidney transplant recipients fall in to and right now we all have a chance to do something about it. I am asking you to contact your local Senate and House representatives and urge them to support Section 1232 of H.R. 3962 (also know as the Affordable Health Care for America Act). There are lots of details to this bill and I won’t go in to the here but if you want to know more I’d be happy to share them with you.
These are not lazy people looking for handouts; in general they have returned to great health after being on the brink of death. In the case of Mia (my recipient) she is now able to work again but her private insurance will not cover immuno-suppressant drugs because it is considered a pre-existing condition. It makes no sense that the government will pay for them to be on dialysis and get a transplant a second or third time but will not pay for the medication they need to keep their first transplant from rejecting!
All I am asking you to do is contact your Senators today using one of the two methods below and ask them to "urge conferees to include Section 1232 of the House bill, H.R. 3962, in the final health reform bill." Section 1232 extends Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs for the life of the transplant to ESRD patients who have received kidney transplants.
1). Call the Capitol Switchboard to call your Senators and Congressmen at (202) 224-3121
2). Click on the following link to locate and contact your Senator: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Click on the following link to locate and contact your House Representative:
http://www.house.gov/
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A call for action, a plea for help
I thank you with all of my heart. One day it could be one of us who needs a transplant.
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1 comments:
So interesting that you wound up handling John's case. I imagine that there are few enough total body donors at a time that you're familiar with all of them. It was the one silver lining in a dark cloud that he was able to be a donor that way. My sister and her hubby are coming for dinner this weekend, which I am glad of, so I can see the whites of their eyes and tell if they're really OK.
As for your post, loopholes like this make me literally sick to my stomach. My aunt is a liver recipient and on Medicaid, so I assume her anti-rejection drugs are covered...I sure as heck hope so! I will definitely email my congressmen. Thanks for the heads up.
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