When the Medicare program came into existence in 1965, it covered many medical services and procedures for those over the age of 65. Treatments for chronic renal disease for those under the age of 65 were not covered. It wasn’t until 1972 that Congress enacted and President Richard Nixon signed into law the so-called Kidney Disease Entitlement (Public Law 92-603). This law extended Medicare coverage by classifying as “disabled” anyone under the age of 65, enrolled in the Social Security program, or the spouse or dependent child of the enrollee, “who is medically determined to have chronic renal disease and who requires hemodialysis or renal transplantation.” The law created a three-month waiting period before Medicare would pay for dialysis treatment, and limited payment for dialysis to 12 months after the month in which the patient had a kidney transplant, or dialysis was terminated.

It is generally accepted that Congress and the Nixon administration significantly under-estimated what the Kidney Disease Entitlement would eventually cost. Due to a variety of factors, including the dramatic growth in the incidence of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes in the American population, approximately 37 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, and more than 726,000 have end stage renal disease (ESRD), i.e., they need dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. In 2016, Medicare costs for covered individuals with chronic kidney disease were $114 billion (20% of total traditional Medicare expenditures), of which $35 billion was spent to care for ESRD patients and $79 billion for those with chronic kidney disease without kidney failure.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]