Jun 28
If SB 1156 passes, local kidney transplant recipient Philip Silva fears that patients like himself, suffering kidney disease and over a decade on dialysis, risk getting pushed off their insurance or losing their homes in the process. On the surface, he said SB 1156 (Connie Leyva, D-Chino) almost sounds good. “But it has implications that nobody is aware of,” he said. “The attacking the kidney [disabled], they’re using us as pawns.” Being under 65 years old, the only reason he qualified for Medicare was that he was an end-stage renal patient, but it wasn’t enough to cover his costs. In the past, he received Medicare statements for his home-based peritoneal dialysis, with costs of $2,166.20 for one post-transplant drug, of which Medicare only picked up $187.52. His supplemental insurance also picked up only 20 percent.