Piece Examines Coverage Limits On Immunosuppression Following Kidney Transplant.

In a Perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine  (2/1), John S. Gill, MD, and Marcello Tonelli, MD, discuss "coverage limits on immunosuppression after kidney transplantation." Currently, "under current Medicare rules, coverage for immunosuppressive drugs abruptly ceases three years after kidney transplantation for all Medicare patients, except those who are 65 years of age or older or have work-related disabilities. This policy differs from those of other industrialized countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, where lifetime, state-funded coverage of immunosuppressive drugs is provided to all kidney-transplant recipients -- and where long-term survival rates are substantially higher than those in the United States...notwithstanding differences in patient case mix, sociodemographic characteristics, and other factors." The authors write, "These observations suggest that it is time to reexamine the funding practices for immunosuppressive medications in the United States."