What does the new healthcare bill say about peritoneal dialysis, if anything? My nephrologist is concerned that there will be a general cutoff for persons over 65 receiving any kind of dialysis treatment. What is your opinion? What does the law say?
I’m so glad that you asked. The new health reform law does not have any provisions specifically related to peritoneal dialysis. Dialysis is mentioned a few times in the law related to such areas as telehealth, selection of clinical performance measures, and disclosure of facility ownership. It sounds like your doctor may have heard some of the misinformation that was shared on the Internet or through certain news media. You can tell your doctor that the law does not restrict dialysis to only those under 65.
Here’s a website where you can read a fact sheet that discusses provisions of the new health reform law (dialysis is not mentioned).
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/finalhcr.pdf
Here’s information provided by the PKD (polycystic kidney disease) Foundation that reports on how the new law should help people with PKD:
http://www.pkdcure.org/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1566/newsID/66/newsTabID/36/Default.aspx