Federal judge grants injunction enabling American Kidney Fund to continue helping low-income Californians with kidney failure

ROCKVILLE, Md. (December 30, 2019) – The following statement may be attributed to LaVarne A. Burton, president and chief executive officer of the American Kidney Fund (AKF):

"Today, the American Kidney Fund (AKF) joins 3,700 low-income Californians living with kidney failure in applauding the decision by Judge David Carter in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to grant an emergency injunction preventing AB 290 from becoming law. This is important news for patients with kidney failure who depend upon AKF to ensure access to the health care that they must have to survive.

"Because this injunction prevents AB 290 from becoming law, pending the outcome of a trial, AKF can continue to serve California's low-income dialysis and transplant patients who depend on AKF for charitable premium assistance. We will also immediately re-open the program to new grant applicants who qualify for assistance.  We are grateful that Judge Carter recognized the immediate and irreparable harm to patients if AKF could not continue to assist them with health insurance premium payments. We are communicating with our grant recipients so they remain fully informed throughout this process."

About the AKF charitable assistance program: For more than 20 years, the American Kidney Fund's 100% needs-based Health Insurance Premium Program (HIPP) has provided grants to low-income dialysis and kidney transplant patients, helping them pay for their health coverage when they cannot afford to do so on their own. AKF's program is governed by Advisory Opinion 97-1, which was issued by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1997. AO 97-1 requires strict firewalls and safeguards to protect and ensure patient choice of provider and insurance coverage, providing a safe harbor from federal beneficiary inducement laws. This protocol has set the standard for dozens of similar national charity care programs for more than two decades.

For more information on the lawsuit and media inquiries, please contact: akfpress@actumllc.com.