Stop Dialysis Bankruptcies

Receiving dialysis should not cause bankruptcy. Yet, bankruptcy is a reality facing 14,800 Texans with end stage renal disease (ESRD) in Texas' kidney disease community who are under 65 and on Medicare.

Email yourRepresentative and Senator and ask them to support a bill, HB 1803 and SB 1790, that will help stop these bankruptcies.

This bill expands insurance coverage options for ESRD patients under 65 on Medicare in Texas. It requires insurance companies to offer them Medigap policies at an affordable rate. Medigap is private insurance that helps pay for costs Medicare doesn't cover.

Without Medigap, ESRD patients must pay their 20% coinsurance with no out-of-pocket maximum for dialysis. These costs can reach $18,000 each year — a crushing financial burden for most patients who are too sick to work. ESRD Medicare beneficiaries are required to have supplemental insurance to be added to the kidney transplant waiting list.

No one in the kidney disease community should face bankruptcy or miss the opportunity to receive a life-saving transplant just because they can't get the insurance they need.

Click here to email your legislators and ask them to support HB1803/SB1790 by becoming a co-sponsor.

Also, please forward this to other kidney disease advocates in Texas. We want to make sure our community's voice is heard!