Miami-Dade Poor Denied Dialysis to Save Money

[Mika]

Miami-Dade Poor Denied Dialysis to Save Money
http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/miami-dade-poor-denied-dialysis-to-save-money/1063870

Miami-Dade's financially strapped government health system has stopped paying for dialysis treatments for 175 poor patients with failing kidneys — a decision that experts say could be deadly.

"It is no game," says Emelina Garcia Cordoví, 67, whose treatments at a South Miami-Dade center were cut off Dec. 31. "We are talking of the lives of persons who depend exclusively on their dialysis."

The Jackson Health System, intended to be a safety net for the poor and uninsured, said it expects to save $4.2 million by stopping payments for outpatient dialysis treatment for the 175 patients. Of those, other avenues for care have been found for all but 41, says spokesman Robert Alonso. About a third of those are undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible for government programs.

"This decision was not taken lightly," said Eneida Roldan, chief executive of Jackson, which is trying to reduce a projected loss of $168 million for fiscal 2010. She said patients can still get treated in emergency rooms.

The situation is so serious that Brian Keeley, chief executive of Baptist Health South Florida, suggested Wednesday that, if Jackson cannot handle the patients, a "public-private partnership" of hospitals be formed to provide care.

"These people are going to seek treatment," Keeley said. "They're going to migrate to the nearest emergency room," after they become sick, meaning care will be more expensive.

Under the health care reform proposals now before Congress, the emphasis is on getting cheaper basic care for an additional 30 million Americans so that they don't need expensive ER visits.

Raul de Velasco, a longtime Miami-Dade nephrologist who serves on several local ethics panels, said Jackson's decision was "almost cruel."

Kidney failure results in impurities building up in the blood. Missing dialysis and waiting to get sick before going to the ER could lead to inflammation of the heart, nerve damage and other problems. "They will not die quickly or suddenly — but they will die, a slow death," he said.

De Velasco says ER treatment in such cases will also be considerably more expensive because the patients will be sicker when they enter the ER.

Miami-Dade at the vanguard of human rights and dignity. :sarcasm:

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