New York Times Article
A self employed, 47 year old woman in California was on Medicare to pay for her immuno-suppressant medications to keep her kidney transplant from rejecting. Medicare only pays for 36 months of medication, so this woman like many other transplant recipients on Medicare must find some other way to pay for the medications, which in her case was $800 per month (mine would cost over $1,000 per month - if I was still on them). Medicare's reasoning is that after 36 months of treatment, the kidney is functioning fine and the patient is no longer suffering from ESRD.
ABL guessed that the woman wasn't able to pay for her medication and lost the kidney. Well, she hasn't lost it yet, but she will lose it soon.
It's clearly more cost effective for the government to pay for the transplant meds. I'm currently covered by my wife's insurance, but they only cover dialysis for 36 months. So, I'll have to go on Medicare eventually - Medicare will cover dialysis indefinitely. Medicare pays roughly $70,000 a year per person for dialysis. The transplant meds cost anywhere from $10,000 - $17,000 a year per person. That should be a no-brainer. Keep someone on their meds and Medicare saves close to $60,000 per year.
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