Get the Facts Indiana

Chronically ill people may face significantly longer drives to get the care they need, disrupting their ability to work and care for their families. Worse, patients who must travel farther are at risk for complications in their healthcare, including higher blood pressure, exhaustion, and vascular bleeding. 

This isn't right. People shouldn’t have to suffer so insurance companies can make even more money. The Dialysis Patient’s Bill of Rights will ensure they don’t have to.

The Issues

• Dialysis is the only chronic illness in the country that lets insurance companies off the hook. After 30 months, Medicare assumes responsibility for dialysis patients’ treatment and benefits, regardless of age. Prior to that, patients rely upon their private insurance plan to pay for their care.

• Dialysis patients, who have chosen a private PPO product, have agreed to pay higher premiums and co-pays to have the right to choose where they receive their care.

• Insurers have started limiting that freedom of choice, restricting patient access to out-of-network caregivers by drastically reducing payments to those providers who are not in their networks.

• This aggressive tactic replaces a market-driven negotiation between caregivers and insurance companies. Essentially forcing caregivers to join their network or to turn away patients.

• These recent policy changes create a situation where patients have paid higher PPO premiums for the ability to choose where they receive their care, only to have that choice limited by insurance companies when they need it most.

• These changes can make it difficult for patients to use their private insurance benefits, encouraging them to drop their private coverage prematurely in order to access Medicare and Medicaid and shift the cost of their care to the government.

• These policies discriminate against, and have an undue impact on, a small number of chronically ill patients.

Why It Matters

• More than 85% of all patients on dialysis rely on a government benefit (Medicare, Medicaid) to pay for their care. Unfortunately, neither Medicare nor Medicaid covers the full cost of care. Caregivers can’t continue to provide dialysis services without adequate payments from private insurers.

• Some dialysis patients may face extraordinary hardships once they have lost out-of-network rights.

• Dialysis patients represent only 1 out of every 5,000 enrollees for insurance companies.  

The Solution: Dialysis Patient's Bill of Rights

• The Dialysis Patients Bill of Rights would protect patient access to life-saving care by ensuring dialysis care within 30 miles.