Immigrant denied transplant, despite higher cost

[Clark]

http://www.boston.com/Boston/whitecoatnotes/2011/12/clipboard-immigrant-denied-transplant-despite-higher-cost/cfM9m9aliiMeZkPYP4m20H/index.html

Clipboard: Immigrant denied transplant, despite higher cost
By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

...

But no federal policies bar illegal immigrants from receiving organs, although transplant hospitals can set their own rules, said Joel Newman, spokesman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Virginia-based federal contractor that manages organ allocations nationwide.

Plus, Newman said, illegal immigrants can donate organs to the network. ``Given that we accept organs from nonresident donors, it could be considered to be hypocritical to only accept citizens as candidates,'' he said.

She goes on to write that groups that favor strict immigration controls oppose high-cost care for illegal immigrants, saying the money would be better spent on the lives of citizens and legal residents.

[livingdonor101]

The man is receiving Medicaid, which is a mix of federal and state money, administered by the state. It is NOT Medicare, which treats ESRD for all folks with a social security number.

The issue isn't this man's immigration status, it's that he's low income. I have a data set from OPTN regarding non-citizen, non-residents who've receive deceased donor transplants in the US over the past decade. My first post http://sirencristy.blogspot.com/2011/12/non-us-citizens-wait-list-and.html.


Secondly, no one seems to care who will care for his (equally immigrant and low income) donor brother. Who will ensure he receives follow-up and preventative treatment for future health problem related to reduced renal function?

[tjhurley]

My understanding is that Medicare ESRD benefits are not available for "all folks with a social security number". My experience was that a person has to qualify by having enough work credits to satisfy the requirements. There appear to be exceptions that allow people to use another person's work credits, but I do not know the details.