Mourning Builds on Recent Florida Legislative Victory for Kidney Patients,
Promotes National Policies to Build on Quality Improvements, Enhance Patients'
Access to Care

MIAMI, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/TodaysDrum -- Seven-time NBA All-Star and kidney
transplant recipient Alonzo Mourning visited Washington, D.C. this week to
meet with federal lawmakers - including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other House and Senate leaders - to
educate them about the impact of kidney disease and ask for their commitment
to advance health care reform that will improve patients' access and choice in
receiving quality kidney care.   Mr. Mourning was accompanied by leadership
from Kidney Care Partners, a broad-based alliance of patient advocates,
dialysis professionals, care providers, nurses and physicians groups,
researchers and manufacturers working together to improve access, choice and
quality of care for individuals with kidney disease and kidney failure.

While on Capitol Hill, Mourning asked lawmakers to specifically support
extending the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) provision, which currently forces
end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients off of their private insurance and
onto Medicare after 30 months of dialysis.  Following his meeting with CBC
members, the CBC delivered a letter to Speaker Pelosi naming access to kidney
care for Americans suffering from ESRD, also known as kidney failure, as a top
priority in health care reform.  In its letter, the CBC expressed strong
opposition to any type of reform efforts that would "compromise the access and
quality of care provided to millions of Americans suffering from end stage
renal disease (ESRD) by omitting provisions that will expand the Medicare
Secondary Payer (MSP) provision for ESRD."

Extending MSP from 30 to 42 months, as Mourning and the kidney community
support, will provide greater choice in care for patients and is estimated to
generate $1.2 billion in savings to the Medicare program. These savings could
then be used toward additional needed reforms, such as extending the length of
time that Medicare will pay for kidney transplant patients' immunosuppressant
drugs. These medications must be taken for the life of the kidney transplant
to help avoid organ rejection; however, currently Medicare will only cover
these medications for 36 months. 

"By allowing ESRD patients to stay on their preferred private insurance
coverage for longer, they will be able to take advantage of helpful preventive
care and health management services not offered by Medicare that can help them
better manage their kidney disease and their overall health," said Mourning.
"Extending this access to employer-based insurance will also create the
savings to Medicare that are needed to help patients keep their transplanted
kidney and avoid a return to dialysis. So for patients and for the government,
this policy just makes sense." 

Mourning's advocacy efforts in Washington come on the heels of the successful
passage of the "Alonzo Mourning Access to Care Act," which went into effect in
Florida on October 1. The legislation, which was passed with overwhelming
support in the Florida state legislature, created the opportunity for
Florida's Medicare beneficiaries, including ESRD patients, under the age of 65
to purchase Medigap coverage for their medical needs.  Under federal law, all
Medicare beneficiaries over age 65 are able to buy this insurance as secondary
coverage, providing them with the ability to access needed medical treatments,
including kidney transplant, without cost being a barrier.  The "Alonzo
Mourning Access to Care Act" is expected to make 11,050 ESRD patients and
200,000 patients with other disabilities eligible for this same Medigap
coverage.  

Mourning, a member of the 2006 NBA Championship-winning Miami Heat, received a
kidney transplant in 2003 after being diagnosed with Focal Glomerulosclerosis,
a degenerative kidney disease, in 2000.  He returned to the NBA following his
transplant for five more seasons, retiring in 2008.  Through his foundation,
Zo's Fund for Life, Mourning has partnered with the kidney community as an
advocate to help individuals and families effected by kidney disease, promote
kidney care education and create awareness about disease prevention.  Since
the creation of the foundation in 2001, Zo's Fund for Life has raised close to
$2 million for research for a cure, education for doctors and the general
public, testing for early detection and creating a fund for those not able to
afford the expensive medication used to treat Focal Glomerulosclerosis. 

Each year, more than 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with ESRD and require
dialysis or a kidney transplant in order to survive. Today, approximately
527,000 patients in the United States are living with kidney failure, and a
disproportionate number of these patients are minorities.  African American,
Hispanic and Asian patients make up more than half the ESRD patient
population.

For more information about Zo's Fund for Life please visit the website at
www.zosfundforlife.org.

SOURCE  Zo's Fund for Life

Ellen Almond for Zo's Fund for Life, +1-202-271-0234

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