It’s Time to Take Care of Dialysis Patients
Imagine walking into your doctor’s office one day to be diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). This debilitating disease requires you to spend three days a week hooked up to a dialysis machine because your kidneys no longer function properly. These time-consuming treatments also require you to take time off work, causing significant financial strain for your family on top of the emotional and physical stress.
Unfortunately, this is not a scenario. This is the harsh reality my patients face on a daily basis. I am constantly amazed by their strength and determination to fight this disease. For many of them, the charitable contributions that help cover the cost of their insurance premiums are a key part of the equation.
It should come as no surprise that dialysis treatments are expensive, costing as much as $72,000 per year. A price many patients across Kentucky cannot afford.
Morgan Whitlow
Fortunately, there are private organizations that help alleviate this financial pressure by paying portions of patients’ insurance premiums.
For a patient, the gift of payment for a portion of their insurance premiums is a life-saving gift. Since these patients do not have to worry about losing their health insurance, they can focus on what really matters: taking care of their health and their families.
Major insurance companies are currently working to eliminate this system. They no longer want to accept charitable contributions as a form of payment for patients’ premiums. If they succeed, many of the patients at my clinic won’t be able to afford their private health care plans. This would force them onto taxpayer-funded plans, and off of the private plans they and their families have come to rely on.
Dialysis patients face many challenges. The prospect of finding and enrolling in a new insurance plan shouldn’t be one of them. The current system is working and helping people receive the life-saving treatment they need, so why change it?
As a social worker, I am privileged to help these patients in their daily lives. However, this problem is too big for me to fix alone. These patients need our federal representatives in Washington, D.C to stand up to these insurance companies and make them do what is right.
Congressman Kevin Cramer has introduced the Access to Marketplace Insurance Act, which is legislation that would protect dialysis patients’ right to use charitable donations to help pay the cost of their insurance premiums. On behalf of those suffering from renal disease, I urge representatives in Washington to support this legislation. Please fight for those who are fighting this disease every day.
Together, we can ensure dialysis patients in Northern Kentucky and beyond are cared for, spoken for and protected.
Morgan Whitlow MSW LSW CSW CDCA is a social worker at Fresenius Dialysis Clinics in Northern Kentucky.
