by Rebecca Zumoff 6. February 2012 07:05
Transplant experts have been advocating for an extension of Medicare immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant patients for a long time, yet the policy that ceases drug coverage for the majority of transplant recipients after three years remains in place. Despite overwhelming evidence that extending coverage would save lives, donated kidneys, and money, policymakers remain, according to a new perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine, penny wise and pound foolish. The failed bills that are introduced in Congress year after year are a sad side effect of the shortsightedness in our policymaking system.
The Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011 (H.R. 2969), currently before Congress, is a proposed amendment to the Social Security Act that would grant lifelong coverage for immunosuppressive medications to all kidney transplant recipients in the United States. As Congress seeks to slash spending, it is not necessarily popular to vote in favor of a bill that, on the surface, demands more money.
But extending coverage would, in fact, save money in the long run.
