Action Alert! Law would extend Medicare drug coverage post transplant

Tell your Senator to support S.2320, extending immunosuppressive drug coverage

NKF is encouraging members of Team Iowa to help build support for legislation that would extend Medicare coverage for life-saving immunosuppressive drugs for the life of the kidney transplant. If passed, patients could continue to receive these drugs under Medicare Part B with the usual premium.

This is a big step forward to preserve the life of kidney transplants.Organ transplant recipients must take immunosuppressive drugs for the life of the transplant to prevent the body from rejecting the organ.

Currently, Medicare pays for most kidney transplants but covers drugs for only 36 months after the transplant as part of the Medicare ESRD benefit. After that, kidney recipients must pay for immunosuppressive drugs through private insurance, public or pharmaceutical programs or pay out-of-pocket (Medicare covers drugs without a time limit if the patient qualifies because of age or disability status).

Immunosuppressive drugs are expensive, but the alternative is even more costly. Medicare spends $17,300 per patient to maintain a transplant, but if the kidney transplant fails, the person returns to dialysis at a cost of over $68,600 per year to Medicare. And because dialysis is physically draining, quality of life often suffers too.

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives, and Take Action volunteers sent over 1100 letters of support in August and September. Now we need your help to build Senate support for this important legislation.

Read the full text of the proposed legislation here: S. 2320

NKF is encouraging you to write your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor S. 2320. Share your story, or the story of a loved one, about the experience with immunosuppressive drug coverage.