URGENT: Contact your state legislator now to stop dialysis bankruptcies

Receiving dialysis should not cause bankruptcy. Yet, bankruptcy is a potential reality facing 3,800 Georgians with end stage renal disease (ESRD) in Georgia's kidney disease community who are under 65 and on Medicare.

Email your Senator and ask them to support H.B 323, which will help stop these bankruptcies.

This bill expands insurance coverage options for ESRD patients under 65 on Medicare in Georgia. 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 $16,000 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.

Currently in Georgia, some Medigap policies are available but many of them are not affordable.

Beverlyn G, a 63-year-old resident of Wadley, pays $3,123 for her plan, provided by Anthem.

Bridgett M., a 62-year-old resident of Macon, pays $5,264 a month for her plan by American Continental.

Tom B., a 49-year-old resident of Milledgeville, and James L., a 50-year-old resident of East Dublin, both paid $6,053 a month for their plans by American Continental.

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 Senator and ask them to tell Senator Walker to hold a hearing for HB 323 and pass it to the Senator floor.

For more Medigap information, review AKF's overview of Medigap reform.