Selma man lobbies for transplant drugs in Washington, D.C.

Selma man lobbies for transplant drugs in Washington, D.C.

By Doug Hoagland
dhoagland@selmaenterprise.com
Danny Iniguez of Selma walked the halls of Congress this year trying to change a federal law that he says hurts people with kidney failure. People like him.

The 28-year-old went to Washington, D.C. to lobby for legislation extending how long Medicare will pay for crucial drugs after a kidney transplant.

Iniguez was one of only three Californians -- and the lone resident of the San Joaquin Valley -- in a group of 60 people from around the country who participated in the lobbying blitz.

Medicare now pays for anti-rejection drugs for three years after a transplant. But patients need the drugs beyond that time to keep their bodies from attacking the new organs, Iniguez said. The legislation would put no time limit on the coverage.

Iniguez said he was encouraged after talking to members of Congress and their aides about the problem: "We made our presence known. There are a lot of people who suffer renal failure, and we made an impact."
Selma's congressman, Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, not only supports the legislation, but is one of the bill's co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. Final action has not been taken on the bill.

For Iniguez, the lobbying was personal. His kidney failure first occurred when he was 12. He got into a bike accident on the day of his first communion, and when doctors couldn't stop his bleeding, they ran tests and discovered that his kidneys weren't working. Iniguez never learned the cause.

Within months of the accident, his mother donated a kidney and Iniguez returned to normal life, though he had to take anti-rejection drugs. But even with the drugs, his body rejected the kidney in 2000. The life of a transplanted kidney is about 10 years, officials say.

Iniguez then went on a list for another transplant and started getting dialysis treatments, which remove toxins from his body -- as his kidneys should do.

Iniguez said he never became bitter: "I never asked, 'Why me?' I said, 'Why not me?' " Waiting for another kidney since 2000 has made him stronger, he added: "And if I have to live my life without receiving a kidney, I want my main thing to be helping people and advocating for them."

Iniguez started advocating through Dialysis Patient Citizens, a national nonprofit advocacy and education organization in Washington. He became a volunteer "ambassador" for the organization, which invited him and others to do the lobbying in March.

"We knew he would do a great job," said Tonya Saffer, deputy director of Dialysis Patient Citizens. "He's just an amazing individual."

Iniguez and the other advocates are trying to change Medicare, the massive federal health insurance program that pays for treatment of kidney failure, regardless of a patient's age. But three years after a transplant, patients must assume coverage of the anti-rejection drugs. If people didn't have private insurance before the transplant and during post-surgical treatment, it's hard to get coverage because companies consider it a pre-existing condition, Saffer said.

Without the drugs, patients are forced to go back onto dialysis, which Medicare pays for, she said. Previous efforts to extend the Medicare coverage have failed, but "we keep trying," Saffer said.

Meanwhile, Iniguez remains committed to seeing the change occur. "My main focus is to let it be known that this is a large problem, and it's going to grow," he said. "We have to make it right."

http://www.selmaenterprise.com/articles/2009/06/17/news/doc4a3931b57b3b7486757798.txt