Legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in late December will provide lifetime coverage for immunosuppressive drugs to transplant recipients older than 65 or those who quality for disability under Medicare.
The provision for coverage was part of a broad spending and Medicare bill, HR4577, which Congress approved on December 15 and President Clinton signed a week later. According to a statement by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the drug coverage will affect patients who meet the age or disability criteria and "whose initial Medicare immunosuppressive coverage has not yet expired on the bill's date of enactment, that is, those who are within 44 months of transplant. It will also cover all future transplant recipients who meet the Medicare age or disability requirements."
The NKF worked to have the provision on immunosuppressives included in the larger bill. "Congress agreed with NKF that it just doesn't make sense for the government to pay for the transplant for Medicare beneficiaries, only to have the success of the transplant put at risk because of an inability to pay for the necessary medications," the foundation's CEO, John Davis, said in a statement.
The United Network for Organ Sharing noted that although coverage for immunosuppressives will still be time-limited for Medicare recipients who do not meet the age or disability criteria, the new law "is a significant and welcome step. UNOS would encourage future consideration of indefinite coverage for all recipients whose immunosuppressive drugs are covered by Medicare."
For Your Information:
NKF's website is at www.kidney.org
UNOS posts its statement at
www.unos.org/Newsroom/archive_newsrelease_20001220_medicarerelief.htmCongressional action on the bill is posted at http://thomas.loc.gov/; enter the bill number "HR4577."
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