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sergeparakhnevich · 2 years
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sergeparakhnevich · 2 years
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NKF Works to Extend Care to Patients
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The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with kidney disease through research, education, advocacy, and legislative action. Its legislative efforts focus on addressing core issues people with kidney disease face, such as access to healthcare. Up to 80 million adults in the United States are at risk of developing kidney disease. These are people who are at risk because they have hypertension, diabetes, or a family history of kidney illness. For these people, kidney disease is preventable, and if they eventually develop it, they can manage the condition through early treatment. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 37 million adults in the United States. Most of these people (over 90 percent) do not even know that their kidneys are damaged. In fact, about 40 percent fail to receive timely care, and by the time their CKD is finally diagnosed, they only have two treatment choices left - transplant or dialysis. Dialysis is a treatment that uses machines to filter and purify a person’s blood. It is prescribed to patients who have late-stage kidney failure and have lost 85 to 90 percent of their kidney function. Over half a million patients with CKD end up relying on dialysis. However, it is not a cure. Only about one in three patients survive five years after starting dialysis, about 50 percent of the survival rate of cancer. Survival rates are even lower for people aged over 65 years. In addition, for those who do survive, their quality of life is greatly affected. Some of its side effects include fatigue, bone disease, pain, and blood clots. A kidney transplant is the more preferred treatment. Unfortunately, the country’s transplant system cannot meet current demands. In 2018, for example, about 100,000 Americans were on the kidney transplant list, but only 23,400 ended up receiving a kidney. The average wait time is five years. A dozen people die every day while on the waiting list. People of color are more adversely affected by the disease. Hispanics are 1.3 times more likely to have kidney failure than white Americans, and African Americans, the most adversely affected group, are four times more likely to experience it. In fact, over 35 percent of patients on dialysis are Blacks, and they wait on average one year longer on the transplant list. The disease is believed to be more prevalent among African Americans because of socioeconomic issues like poverty and poor nutrition. NKF is committed to improving the lives of people with CKD by advocating for laws that expand access to care and timely treatment. In its legislative agenda for 2021 and beyond, the organization is appealing to lawmakers at the federal level to pass the Covering All Reasonable Expenses for Home Dialysis Act, a bill that would enhance access to home dialysis. The bill would eliminate many barriers to this treatment, and make it unnecessary for qualifying patients to have to travel to hospitals three to four times a week and spend hours on dialysis. They could simply do it at home with adequate support. NKF is also advocating for the passage of the Living Donor Protection Act. This bill prevents life, disability, and long-term care insurers from discriminating against living kidney donors by refusing coverage or imposing higher premiums. Further, NKF is encouraging Congress to improve access to kidney disease treatment in underserved communities by increasing public investment in kidney health equity, promoting equitable access to home dialysis, extending Medigap to ESRD beneficiaries, and closing the racial gaps people face in accessing living donor kidney transplants. Congress can close these gaps by examining the roles of dialysis facilities and transplant centers, as well as the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.
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