How has the new Medicare payment to doctors plan affected the waiting time?

[KraigG]

Had my transplant almost 20 years ago, now I find my kidney failing, and my pancreas had been yanked almost 10 years ago. Since going on dialysis in 1990, Medicare has been my only insurance, and I've had nothing ever denied to me, and very little in the form of co-pays.

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the Medicare payments to doctors was decreasing by 20%. How will this affect my position on the waiting list? I can just imagine that, all other things equal, any hospital in the US would rather go with a patient that has private insurance that pays them more than the measly amounts that Medicare pays. Of course, I'm sure no doctor or hospital would ever admit to doing this, but it makes you wonder.

Thoughts?

[Rerun]

I agree with you 100% that we will never know what goes on behind the scenes, but if the Liberal Media ever got a hold of it they would be trashed.  So, I think the way the list is prioritized will stay the same.

But, the way the list is prioritized is a lot different than 20 years ago.  Now there are Regions so your organ usually comes from that "Region" instead of anywhere.  You need to go to the UNOS website and read up on how they do that.  http://www.unos.org/kars.asp

[KraigG]

Rerun, I will go to the Midwest for my transplant surgery, since the wait out here in California is many, many years, since there are so many people on it. My family is in the Chicago area, so that's where I will have my surgery. Doesn't hurt, either, that the head of the kidney/pancreas transplant department is a guy I went to high school with

[okarol]

The wait time in Los Angeles is 5 -7 years for a kidney. In San Diego it is 2 - 4 years. The time is shorter for pancreas/kidney transplants. I don't know how long the wait is in Chicago, but I think it may be similar to San Diego. You can be multiple listed at more than one procurement area, so just get the California one done, then the other will go much quicker.

[KraigG]

Karol, that's too long of a wait. I was quoted 18 months in Chicago for the K/P. I'm not a young guy anymore, though I was when I had my first transplant. I can't imagine being on dialysis for that long!

I was in Chicago last March, and went through all the tests at the hospital where I'm listing. All I've been doing here in LA is waiting for my creatinine clearance level to drop to 20%, which it did last Tuesday. I'm getting the dental exam and colonoscopy done locally, then I'm on the list.

If I'm lucky, I can avoid dialysis completely, though that's only a slim chance.