Kidney Care Partners petition for Medicare changes

KCP is asking for CKD community support for a petition effort. The petition statement is:

I urge Congress to act this year to pass Medicare program improvements that will help kidney patients and slow the growth of kidney disease by establishing:

• Programs to educate the public and at-risk communities about the dangers and warning signs of kidney disease
• Pre-dialysis education for individuals with kidney disease to help slow progression of CKD and its complications and prepare for treatment after kidney failure
• Enhanced training for dialysis caregivers
• Program reforms to maintain patient access to high quality care by providing annual inflation adjustments for dialysis like those for all other Medicare providers

I urge Congress to support Americans with chronic kidney disease and kidney failure as well as health care providers through comprehensive kidney care reform.

I'll sign it and fax it in, I support each position. The only one that is at all contentious is the last one - the inflation updates. This issue has been kicked around on the discussion forums for years. I've always supported a way for there to be routine inflation updates. Inflation happens, there is no reason we shouldn't accommodate this reality.

It was the "pay fors" that weakened my support for past proposals, because with legislation it is always in the details. Cutting the entire dialysis program to fund inflation updates that would only partially restore the cuts is not something I could support - this was the approach suggested in last years brutal CHAMP Act - so my only concern is around what legislators will do to offset the increases in spending called for in the petition.