Federal Programs Play a Vital Role in Kidney Patient Care

Millions of kidney patients nationwide rely on federal programs for healthcare, transplant support, and life-saving medications. From well-known programs like Medicare and Medicaid to specialized initiatives ensuring safe blood transfusions and transplant system reforms, these services are essential for those living with kidney disease.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a federal agency that works to protect Americans’ health. They oversee major healthcare programs, regulate medications and medical devices, fund medical research, and ensure public health preparedness. 

HHS runs many programs that directly benefit people with kidney disease.

• The Medicare program provides health coverage for older Americans and many people with kidney failure.
• Lifetime immunosuppressive coverage ensures that people can access immunosuppressive drugs for the life of their kidney transplant if they do not have other health coverage.
• The Medicaid program provides health coverage for approximately 72 million people.
• Reforms to the U.S. transplant system were undertaken by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to make the system safer, more efficient, and more responsive to the needs of patients and their families.
• The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace covers nearly 20 million Americans.
• The Food and Drug Administration regulates and approves new drugs and devices for conditions like kidney disease.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks chronic diseases like kidney disease and infectious diseases. This allows public health officials to understand health issues and respond to them.
• Scientific research and clinical trials supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to bring new treatments and cures to waiting patients.

Hard-working, dedicated people across the government make sure patients have continuous access to services that impact their health.

This week, the NFK sent a letter to Congress expressing our concern about a careless series of layoffs at HSS, particularly how these layoffs would impact reforms to the transplant system that NKF has worked hard to see signed into law.

We also issued a statement to the media expressing our concerns that terminating so many employees at once would disrupt the services that kidney patients need.

We agree that it is appropriate to make government more efficient and less wasteful. We do not agree that changes should be made so quickly and without careful consideration that they put patients at risk. We will continue to speak out about the impact of changes to the federal workforce. 

Read NKF’s full letter to Congress.

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