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Unions push into Arizona with plan to limit dialysis profits
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The Los Angeles-based Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West is targeting Arizona voters to approve a ballot measure this November that would limit profits for dialysis companies.
The Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection Act, versions of which have already been introduced in Ohio and California, would limit the revenues of dialysis corporations to 15% above the amount they spend on patient care and require annual inspections of dialysis clinics. Organizers said in a press release that they need to collect the signatures of 150,642 registered Arizona voters and submit the information to election officials by July 5 to get on the November ballot.
The effort by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West is being fought by The Patients and Caregivers to Protect Dialysis Patients, a coalition of more than 60 groups representing physicians, nurses, patients, dialysis caregivers, veterans and others, with primary financial support from Fresenius and DaVita. The effort by the union “puts the health and wellbeing of dialysis patients at risk, in what appears to be an aggressive effort to gain bargaining leverage for its union supporters,” Hrant Jamgochian, JD, LLM, CEO of Dialysis Patient Citizens, said. “The unintended consequence of this effort is that patient care will suffer. We cannot afford to take such chances with the lives of some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
The union is also supporting a bill introduced in the California legislature that would limit acceptance of third-party payments for patients treated at dialysis clinics and drug treatment centers in the state. Senate bill 1156, sponsored by state Sen. Connie M. Leyva, would place strict criteria on programs like the American Kidney Fund’s Health Insurance Premium Program that pay health care premiums for patients. Under the bill, if a group is paying a patient’s premiums for a commercial-based health care plan, it would have to verify the patient is not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, and if the entity persists in buying health coverage for the patient, the health care provider would only be reimbursed at Medicare levels. Leyva said in a statement that her bill addresses dishonest providers who take advantage of sick people by enrolling them in commercial coverage to maximize high reimbursement rates for services.
“Often times, this coverage is not in the best interest of the patient, results in higher out-of-pocket costs or disruption in care and is being imposed upon consumers even though these patients are eligible for public coverage like Medicare or Medi-Cal,” she said in a press release.
In a statement, the AKF said, “If passed this bill would cause profound harm to many of the nearly 67,000 Californians who rely on dialysis to stay alive. AKF provides a safety net to dialysis patients who are unable to afford their health care coverage. More than 17,000 people who are on dialysis live in the counties in Sen. Leyva’s district, and nearly 300 of them are receiving assistance from AKF to pay their health insurance premiums.” – by Mark E. Neumann
References:www.kidneyfund.org/news/news-releases/statement_on_california_SB1156.html