Hi All -
Greetings! I’m planning to invite my dad who is currently in India to visit me in USA this summer for 2 months. He is on CAPD (using baxter products -twice a day). We have contacted Baxter and they can deliver the products in USA. I needed suggestion on the traveler insurance plan that I should take for him that would cover any emergency situations here in US.
Also, as per his nephrologist, he is fit to travel, but wanted to know if he would be ok in long distance flight ( almost 18 hrs). Also, will he be able to carry some dialysate on flight as well? Any airline regulations around it?
Any inputs/tips are appreciated!
Hi Raindew12,
It’s great that your dad will travel to visit you! Some folks ask us questions here, but it can be faster to get answers to questions like this by joining our Facebook discussion group, which you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeDialysisCentral/ . I’m not aware of a particular travel insurance policy, but have had great luck for personal non-dialysis travel on this site, which lets you compare policies and decide what sort of coverage would be most helpful. https://www.squaremouth.com/. Please note that this is just a personal recommendation and not an "official"one, and there are no guarantees that what you find will meet your needs. I don’t know how we would be able to say if your dad would be okay on an 18-hour flight beyond what his doctor says. He should be able to bring some PD fluid with him. Here is an article we wrote about travel with PD that has the airplane rules. http://www.homedialysis.org/life-at-home/articles/flying-with-a-pd-cycler-or-nxstage-system-one It would probably be unwise for him to do an exchange ON an airplane–it would be impossible to control the air flow, so that would be risky for infection. So, an exchange before he leaves for the airport and one after he lands might make more sense, but I am not a clinician, and this is not medical advice.
Hi Raindew12,
It’s great that your dad will travel to visit you! Some folks ask us questions here, but it can be faster to get answers to questions like this by joining our Facebook discussion group, which you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeDialysisCentral/ . I’m not aware of a particular travel insurance policy, but have had great luck for personal non-dialysis travel on this site, which lets you compare policies and decide what sort of coverage would be most helpful. https://www.squaremouth.com/. Please note that this is just a personal recommendation and not an "official"one, and there are no guarantees that what you find will meet your needs. I don’t know how we would be able to say if your dad would be okay on an 18-hour flight beyond what his doctor says. He should be able to bring some PD fluid with him. Here is an article we wrote about travel with PD that has the airplane rules. http://www.homedialysis.org/life-at-home/articles/flying-with-a-pd-cycler-or-nxstage-system-one It would probably be unwise for him to do an exchange ON an airplane–it would be impossible to control the air flow, so that would be risky for infection. So, an exchange before he leaves for the airport and one after he lands might make more sense, but I am not a clinician, and this is not medical advice.
My mother will be visiting from Thailand as well and she is also on CAPD. I am wondering about the process. Did you order from Baxter India? or Can it be done here in the USA. Also, what’s the option for having a new order here in the USA? Can we order directly to Baxter?
You will for sure need to sign up with a nephrologist at a local clinic to you. You can try to order through her clinic in Thailand, but not sure they will do it.
If my research is correct, most of those in Thailand get dialysis under the Universal Coverage Scheme (universal healthcare). Patients who choose CAPD pay nothing, but I believe there is a charge for HD. Does she have a social worker or other staff at her clinic who can help her find out if UCS will provide her CAPD treatments in the U.S. or find out if Baxter could make arrangements to get the supplies shipped from a location in the U.S. to save money on shipping solutions? In the U.S. Medicare pays for care in the U.S., but not in foreign countries.
Dialysis clinics are not transparent about their dialysis charges. I’d suggest you look on Dome Dialysis Central’s Find a clinic database to find a clinic in your area that offers CAPD. Insert your state and city or zip code and choose a radius from 5-120 miles to the clinic from your location. You will get a list of clinics. Call one or more clinics to find out if they use Baxter CAPD supplies and ask who you could talk with about the cost of a month of CAPD supplies and if a doctor who works with patients at that clinic would be willing to prescribe it based on what her Thailand doctor prescribes. You can find the database here - Clinic Search - Find a Clinic - Home Dialysis Central.