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We must do what’s right for kidney patients

Tuesday, September 4 at 1:41 PM

This Speakout has not been edited.

By Dianna Benton

When Congress returns from its summer break, our elected representatives will take up important healthcare legislation that affects millions of Americans. It’s truly a life and death issue for the thousands of Colorado residents who suffer from kidney failure (otherwise known as End Stage Renal Disease) and require dialysis treatments to survive.

Colorado, like every other state, has thousands of individuals suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, all of which are major risk factors for kidney disease. One in every nine adults - 20 million Americans - suffer from chronic kidney disease, which untreated, can ultimately progress to kidney failure. The number of people with end stage renal disease (ESRD) who require dialysis is expected to double by the year 2012.

Because transplantation options are extremely limited, most patients who suffer from ESRD depend on lifesaving dialysis treatments to survive.

Ensuring quality dialysis care remains available is essential to the nation’s patient population, as is providing prevention and education resources so that patients can become empowered to avoid ESRD altogether.

Of the over 300,000 Americans requiring dialysis, the minority communities and underserved populations are two of the most at risk groups. In fact, Hispanic Americans are 4.5 to 6.6 times more likely to develop chronic kidney disease and African Americans make up 37 percent of the dialysis population – both staggering statistics. Reports indicate that 43 percent of African Americans are unaware they have kidney disease until one week before their kidneys fail. And more than half of the 61,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant are minorities. These numbers are shocking.

Many of us know someone who requires dialysis and can share personal stories about the devastating impact of kidney disease and the importance of access to dialysis care. As program coordinator at Catholic Charities, I serve over 1,300 households and a handful of my clients are on dialysis. Having access to dialysis treatment means life or death for these patients. It would be devastating and heartbreaking if these patients lost access to their life saving dialysis care.

The current Medicare program provides access to dialysis treatment to anyone, of any age, with permanent kidney failure. But Congress is considering changing the rules on Medicare funding for those in need of dialysis. In fact, the House of Representatives has already passed legislation called CHAMP, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act that threatens to remove $3.5 billion dollars for kidney care programs – the deepest cuts ever for kidney care in America.

When Medicare funding is the difference between being able to access life saving care or suffering, Congress must do the right thing and protect people. Senator Ken Salazar can be a leading voice on this issue. I pray that he will consider the facts about kidney care and the need for a stable network of dialysis providers.

Adequate and stable funding is critical to ensure that dialysis patients have access to top quality clinics that provide life saving kidney care. Many rural and urban dialysis facilities are already operating on a razor’s edge, since most of their patients are on Medicare or Medicaid. Unless this legislation is modified, patient access to care in these dialysis clinics could be compromised.

We have the opportunity to ensure we create a fair public policy that will deliver quality care with adequate funding. And there is no better time to do that than now when Senator Salazar is back home talking to constituents about important issues.

Call, write, e-mail, or attend a town hall meeting and tell Senator Salazar we need to do what’s right for kidney patients. They are our fellow Americans who are asking their government to help keep them alive through adequate healthcare funding. Is there anything more important?

Dianna Benton is program coordinator for Catholic Charities Northern.

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