Florida Senate - 2012 SCR 2134
By Senator Smith
29-03619A-12 20122134__
1 Senate Concurrent Resolution
2 A concurrent resolution to the Congress of the United
3 States, urging Congress to pass the Share Your Spare
4 Act, H.R. 2755, and the Comprehensive
5 Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant
6 Patients Act, H.R. 2969 and S. 1454.
7
8 WHEREAS, kidney transplantation is superior to dialysis for
9 improving patient survival rates and quality of life in patients
10 who have end-stage renal disease, and immunosuppressive
11 medications play an integral role in decreasing the rate at
12 which a transplant recipient’s body rejects the transplanted
13 organ, and
14 WHEREAS, without these immunosuppressive medications, the
15 transplanted organ can be rejected within days or weeks,
16 threatening a person’s life and dramatically increasing overall
17 health care spending, and
18 WHEREAS, in an article published in the February 1, 2012,
19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, physicians John S.
20 Gill and Marcello Tonelli report that premature transplant
21 failure is the fifth leading cause of initiation of dialysis in
22 the United States, with about one in four patients whose
23 transplants fail dying within 2 years after returning to
24 dialysis, and
25 WHEREAS, the article goes on to state that this outcome is
26 worse than the 2-year mortality rate among patients who have a
27 functioning transplant from a deceased donor (6 percent) and
28 still worse than that among age-matched dialysis patients who
29 have never received a transplant (20 percent), and
30 WHEREAS, the 2011 annual report from the United States
31 Renal Data System shows that Medicare spends an average of
32 $82,285 per person, per year, on hemodialysis patients and
33 $61,588 per person, per year, on peritoneal dialysis patients,
34 and covers these costs indefinitely, and
35 WHEREAS, the American Transplant Foundation reports that
36 Medicare spends more than $100,000 during the first year after a
37 person receives an organ transplant and an average of only
38 $19,100 per year thereafter, including the cost of
39 immunosuppressive medications, and
40 WHEREAS, under current Medicare rules, coverage for
41 immunosuppressive drugs abruptly ceases 36 months after kidney
42 transplantation for all Medicare patients, except those who are
43 65 years of age or older or have work-related disabilities, and
44 WHEREAS, extending immunosuppressive coverage beyond the
45 current 36-month limit would decrease the risk of allograft
46 failure attributable to a patient’s inability to afford
47 immunosuppressive medications following loss of drug coverage
48 under Medicare, and
49 WHEREAS, when a renal allograft fails, a patient requires
50 costly dialysis and may be a candidate for retransplantation,
51 both of which are covered by Medicare, and
52 WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage
53 for Kidney Transplant Patients Act, H.R. 2969 and S. 1454, would
54 finally eliminate this 36-month time limitation for patients
55 with end-stage renal disease and extend immunosuppressive drug
56 coverage to all transplant recipients for the life of the
57 transplanted organ, and
58 WHEREAS, economic analyses confirm that providing lifetime
59 funding for immunosuppressive medications would lower overall
60 costs to Medicare, saving an estimated $200 million annually,
61 and
62 WHEREAS, transplantable kidneys are lifesaving gifts made
63 possible by living donors or by the family of an individual who
64 is deceased, and are of an immeasurable benefit to society, and
65 WHEREAS, the Share Your Spare Act, H.R. 2755, would change
66 current public policy that devalues this gift by amending the
67 Internal Revenue Code to allow a nonrefundable, one-time,
68 personal credit for a donation of a life-saving organ from one
69 living person to another, and
70 WHEREAS, encouraging volunteers to donate their organs and
71 ensuring lifetime access to immunosuppressive medications for
72 all Americans who have kidney transplants would save lives and
73 reduce the total cost of treating persons who have end-stage
74 renal disease, NOW, THEREFORE,
75
76 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House
77 of Representatives Concurring:
78
79 That the Congress is encouraged to pass the Share Your
80 Spare Act, H.R. 2755, and the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive
81 Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act, H.R. 2969 and
82 S. 1454, thus taking a necessary step toward promoting quality
83 of life for all kidney transplant recipients and providing an
84 incentive to encourage organ donation in this country.
85 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this concurrent
86 resolution be dispatched to the President of the United States
87 Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of
88 Representatives, to each member of the Florida delegation to the
89 United States Congress, and to the presiding officers of each
90 house of the several state legislatures.