Dear Congress: Please Help!

Just a little background info.

As of 2011, Medicare was spending approximately $77,500 per year on a dialysis patient, which does not have any time limitation. Medicare then incurs an average first year cost of more than $100,000 for renal transplantation and will pay for both dialysis and re-transplantation in the case of organ failure.  Medicare only spends an average of $19,000 on a kidney transplant recipient per year after the transplant, approximately $58,500 less than pre-transplant dialysis patients.

The Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011 would eliminate the current time limitation and extend Medicare Part B coverage for kidney transplant recipients for the purpose of immunosuppressive drugs only. All other Medicare coverage would end 36 months after the transplant. For patients who have another form of health insurance, Medicare would be the secondary payer. Beneficiaries would be responsible for a premium amount to be determined by the Secretary of HHS, as well as applicable deductible and coinsurance requirements. The bill also amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require that group health plans currently providing coverage of immunosuppressive drugs for kidney transplant recipients maintain this coverage.

http://www.americantransplantfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Summary-Comprehensive-Immunosuppressive-Drug-Coverage-for-Kidney-Transplant-Patients-Act.pdf

So please, if you have the time, send a letter.

Here is the link for MS:
http://www.legislature.ms.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Click on the Legislators option and select your option. 
FYI - DeSoto County, has two of their very own as state Senators, both Southaven High School graduates.  Email them. 
Chris Massey - cmassey@senate.ms.gov
David Parker - dparker@senate.ms.gov
Lt. Governor (President of the Senate) is Tate Reeves - ltgov@senate.ms.gov

Speaker of the House, Philip Gunn
Room 306
PO Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215

Link for contacting Congressman Alan Nunnelee (serves MS 1st District which includes DeSoto County)
https://nunnelee.house.gov/contact-form

January 29, 2013

U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate

RE: Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011 Surpasses 100 Co-Sponsors In the House and Senate

Dear Members of Congress:

As the friend of a family with a 14 month old child in End Stage Renal Failure, pending a kidney transplant, I implore you to pass the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011. This important bipartisan and bicameral legislation will ensure kidney transplant recipients are able to maintain Medicare Part B coverage of immunosuppressive drugs necessary to avoid organ rejection and a return to more costly treatments....a win-win for patients and the U.S. Treasury. The legislation, H.R. 2969 & S. 1454, introduced by Senators Durbin (D-IL), Cochran (R-MS) and Congressmen Burgess (R-TX) and Kind (D-WI), surpassed 100 co-sponsors. For more than a decade and 10 sessions of Congress this important patient legislation has received significant support from Republicans, Democrats and the Executive Branch. The legislation saves lives, life saving donor kidneys, and reduces the cost burden to the federal government....yet the bill continues to remain unaddressed at the conclusion of each Congress. On behalf of kidney patients, families, physicians, surgeons and all involved in the transplant process, we implore you to make the 112th Session of Congress the last Congress that patients will have to lose Medicare coverage and their kidney after 36 months.

Since 1972, Medicare has covered people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) -- permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant – without regard to age or SSDI status. There is no time limit for Medicare for a dialysis patient. By contrast, kidney transplant recipients lose Medicare coverage 36 months after transplant. Kidney transplants result in an improved quality of life, but more than 100,000 Americans are on kidney wait lists. Every effort must be made to ensure that transplanted kidneys are successful and that recipients have access to the drugs that prevent their immune system from rejecting the new organ.

It is not sound public policy or cost effective for Medicare to cover a kidney transplant and then stop immunosuppressive coverage after 36 months -- which can, and all too often does, lead to someone rejecting the transplanted kidney because they cannot afford their medicine. If patients lose their transplant, they resume Medicare eligibility for all medical needs, including dialysis or
another transplant. Medicare patients with ESRD will also incur a longer wait for a life-sustaining kidney transplant, if people who already received transplants lack coverage for the medications that prevent rejection and end up back on the waiting list. It is unfair to living donors, donor families, and the federal government not to do everything possible to maintain the transplanted kidney and gift-of-life that they have provided.

On behalf of the entire transplant community, we strongly urge you to support and pass the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011.

Sincerely,


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