HELP PROTECT VULNERABLE DIALYSIS PATIENTS IN CALIFORNIA
**TAKE ACTION TODAY: TELL GOVERNOR NEWSOM TO VETO ASSEMBLY BILL 290 TO PROTECT DIALYSIS PATIENTS**
Receiving dialysis treatment at least three times a week is critical to survival for more than 70,000 patients in California with End-Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure.
Last week, the California Legislature narrowly passed AB 290 – a bill which would severely harm dialysis patients and the quality care they receive. If this bill is enacted into law, it will:
- End the availability of charitable assistance for patients provided by the American Kidney Fund, which currently helps more than 3700 low-income patients in California, and eliminate the financial safety net for future dialysis patients who would otherwise qualify for financial assistance to help cover their medical costs;
- Cause some facilities to close, especially in rural or underserved areas, due to lower reimbursement rates; and
- Leave patients scrambling to find a new dialysis facility to receive their treatments, requiring many patients to travel even further than they already do.
Access to care is a matter of life or death for dialysis patients, and this bill as amended still threatens that access, particularly for the most vulnerable, low-income dialysis and transplant patients who rely on financial assistance to help cover their medical costs.
We need to stop this harmful legislation. Please contact Governor Newsom and urge him to veto AB 290.