Man taken off of transplant list due to lack of insurance

[n2doc]

PORTLAND, Maine —A man in need of a kidney was denied a transplant due to his age.

Thiwat Thiwat discovered that his kidneys were failing during his senior year at Deering High School four years ago.

Thiwat was a member of the school’s 2013 state championship team, but a year later, he found out that his immune system attacked his kidneys.

His kidneys are now only functioning at 1 percent.

He’s enrolled in college full-time and also has a part-time job. He was relying on Mainecare, but was recently cut off when he turned 21.

Thiwat is no longer qualifies for the kidney donation list because he doesn’t have health insurance.

more

http://www.wmtw.com/news/man-in-need-of-kidney-denied-transplant/39764878

[madokie]

1. We really need universal health care for every person in America

no insurance companies allowed in the mix. That is why we need to elect the man from Vermont. He can get us there. Nothing stopping that from happening except for not having the leadership to guide us. The will is here

[CurtEastPoint]

2. This is scandalous. The US is just pitiful in how it cares for its citizens.

[dembotoz]

3. death panel

[B Calm]

4. Health care for profit needs to be a thing of the past. How sad.

[spanone]

5. insurance companies are the true DEATH PANELS

[narnian60]

15. +100

[heaven05]

6. money is king, profit the queen

who is this inddividdual to have an expectation of a long normal life, without the venerated $$$$$

[hobbit709]

7. Yet there are still people that insist insurance is the same as care.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. He should qualify for Medicare because he has end stage

kidney disease. It's the only disease specifically covered by Medicare for all persons regardless of age. He will still be covered by Medicare after the transplant too.

[REP]

28. Not the only disease; ALS does too

And if the prognosis is terminal within a relatively short period, the waiting period can be waived as well. Not posting to be an ass; sometimes random bits of stuff can be useful to other people

You are totally correct; he automatically qualifies for Medicare and someone screwed up!

[Texasgal]

32. My husband is at end stage as well.

It takes a minimum two years to get Medicare. Time is of the essence in these cases.

[herding cats]

39. That's so messed up!

I'm sorry for your situation! It shouldn't be a case of navigating 1000 layers of borocratic tape at a time like that.

I wish you, and he, the best in your personal trials. It shouldn't be like it is, but I'm sure you understand that all to well.

[Snarkoleptic]

9. This is what happens in a for-profit healthcare system.

People are considered profit/loss centers rather than human beings.
We are some sick puppies for allowing this!

[Recursion]

10. Why isn't he on Medicare? Anybody in renal failure is supposed to be

[SickOfTheOnePct]

11. He should be provided his transplant insurance or not

But why is everyone blaming the insurance companies on this? They didn't cut him off, the state of Maine did.

[Nye Bevan]

12. This guy bears a lot of the blame:

Reading this story I was very surprised that Maine has not expanded Medicaid, which would have provided coverage in this case. Apparently Maine is the only New England state not to expand Medicaid.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) is reemphasizing his vow to veto any expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare, accusing fellow Republican lawmakers in the state legislature of playing politics with a drug abuse crisis to push for expansion.

"We have vetoed Medicaid expansion five times," LePage said in his weekly radio address, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, "and we will veto it every time electioneering politicians try to bring it up."

LePage’s vow comes as two Republican state senators are pushing for a Medicaid expansion bill, citing the state’s problem with abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin, an issue that has been growing nationwide.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/264401-maine-gov-vows-to-veto-obamacares-medicaid-expansion

Standard Republican cruelty on this issue.

[kag]

13. My thoughts exactly!

LePage is such an ass.

[20score]

17. So does every single person who folded instead of

fought the day they found out the public option was sold out for the entire year prior. They said people who wanted the public option or single payer were children who wanted ponies and didn't understand life or politics.

They all have blood on their hands. Every fucking one of them...and since it's between 30 and 35 thousand a year who die from the cost of, or no insurance - it's around a quarter of a million people who died because of those hypocritical assholes. They think like children, who can't admire, they have to worship. I truly despise them. (They also lost us the House and being assholes of highest quality, blamed everyone but themselves. The ones who could have saved it, if they were capable of critical thinking and decency.)

[kag]

20. I remember those days just before Obamacare passed.

And all of the back-room deals going on. The Democrats who trusted their reps in Congress to do the right thing got SO cheated. One of my own two Dem senators was among the worst (Bennett, D-CO).

[smirkymonkey]

24. +1000

[mountain grammy]

19. and he smiles and waves, while people suffer and die needlessly.

The shame of all governors who haven't accepted the Medicaid expansion. Murderers, torturers, and all around hateful human beings.

[IronLionZion]

22. Why does Maine still have that POS in office?

Elections have consequences

[ryan_cats]

14. It says

It says in one place he was denied because of his age which is what 20?
Then it says down lower because of lack of insurance. I am thinking it is no insurance. Nice to see some faceless bureaucrat gets to decide someone's fate.

[kag]

18. It actually says both.

He just turned 21, and was taken off of Maine's insurance program (about which I know nothing) because he was no longer a juvenile.

[Gene Debs]

16. But, but, Obamacare fixed everything.

[NorthCarolina]

21. Healthcare in America is a for-profit business. If you can't pay the fare, too bad so sad.

That's why we need a true humanist like Bernie to turn things around for that group of folks TPTB consider "undesirables" or in some instances "super predators".

[jwirr]

23. Okay what happened to being on your parents healthcare

until you are 26? Or applying for ACA on your own?

[Octafish]

25. Health Care is a Human Right

These are the wealthiest times in human history. Shame on all who can do something and don't.

[Doctor_J]

26. Obamacare! Greatest law in history!

Better than Medicare, Medicaid, CRA AND VRA combined (actually claimed at du)!

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Tools.

[REP]

29. ESRF automatically qualifies someone for MediCARE, regardless of age

Covers dialysis, transplant and post-transplant drugs.

[Texasgal]

34. Sure.. it just takes two years

that's all.

[REP]

38. No it doesn't. No waiting period.

Though most ESRF patients have been in CRF for more than two years.

[Fairgo]

30. Unheard of in civilised countries

What do we stand for again?

[Texasgal]

31. This is just awful!

My husband is on a liver/kidney transplant list he's in stage 4 failure. We could not even be considered without insurance, as a matter of fact that is the one of the first determining factors when you go for listing. Must have insurance.

I just cannot imagine what this poor kid is going through. *cry* Organ failure in any capacity is a terrible thing to go through.

[Rex]

33. Of course he was! All that counts in America is money...don't have any you can

just wander off and die. Predatory capitalism means never having to feel guilty about someone dying, because you wanted to make a few bucks of their corpse.

[malaise]

36. Remember Trump's words

I'm a businessman - it's what we do (after wishing for the housing collapse because he'd be able to buy cheap).

[malaise]

35. Send the real Death Panel list to

Lady Blah Blah

[hopemountain]

37. transplants are a business -

even though it is illegal to sell body parts - universities, hospitals, institutes and scientific/medical labs have found a way to make money: they only select transplant candidates with a high success profile.

why? because if their transplant patients do not survive the transplant and the hospital or medical facility has a high rate of "failures" - they are less able to attract monstrosity size donations. large donors do not like to have their donations and names associated with high "failure" rates.

of course, the candidate must fulfill or meet specific criteria to qualify for the donor list - first, all of their organs must be as high functioning as possible.

here are a few more of the determining criteria: there are many expensive tests for determining the donated organ acceptance rate of the potential candidate, the overall health of the potential candidate, the current functioning status of the failing organ, and of course how the entire process will be paid for/covered.

of course there are more criteria to add to the equation and it may vary with institutions.

for example, at age 41, my husband suffered a stroke and congestive heart failure following a viral infection which settled in his heart. he had a 50/50 chance of living 6 months - but he pulled through.

he was sent to a research hospital where luckily (yes, luck is huge in the transplant business) was assigned an awesome cardiologist who coached him through the entire screening process to qualify for a heart transplant and got him on the transplant list. he continued to maintain his health and heart function for 6 more years.

the month before 9/11, we discovered that one of his heart medications had been mixed up by the pharmacy. we don't know for how long he had been taking a diabetes med with a similar name instead of the key heart support med he needed.

when this was discovered, the cardiologist ran tests to assess for any damage. yes, in 2 months time (since his last heart function test) his heart function rate had decreased by 50% more than what was acceptable to be on the list - so, he was dropped from the list.

my husband lived 8 more months. he passed at the age of 47. incidentally, he passed the same year cheney had his transplant.

this young man's family might consider looking at other medical facilities that offer kidney transplants. they do vary in determining what is acceptable / considered for transplants.