I take great pride in calling myself a Chattanoogan. Part of that is our community’s willingness to lift others up during times of need through charitable donations. Recently it has come to my attention that patients suffering from kidney disease are being cut off from charitable donations. This is concerning to me and our leaders in Congress need to be informed on this injustice.
The fact is that some insurance companies wish to stop the practice of giving charitable donations to those who need dialysis, specifically those that have End Stage Renal Disease. Charitable donations are sometimes the only reason an individual with ESRD can afford the life-extending dialysis treatment. Without charitable donations, these individuals would need to drop their private insurance and end up on the shoulder of Medicaid and the U.S. taxpayer. This is solely because insurance companies wish to cut costs.
Dialysis is incredibly expensive and without charitable donations, most patients can’t afford it and are left to the wills of the world. Blocking charitable donations from private entities to help these patients in need is not who we, as Chattanoogans, Tennesseans and Americans, are about.
Case Ingle