So much for “following the technology”. In their attempts to refuse individuals treatment, according to recently released documents, bureaucrats affiliated with the Medicare plan ignored the advice they sought from health experts. Worse still, the people who suffered were frequently from minority families, which the Biden administration claims are assisting with its “equity” objective. It’s just the most recent illustration of how the remaining did ration their tactics to refuse patients expensive medical treatment.
The documents, uncovered , via a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request, surround decisions by Medicare contractors regarding coverage of a blood diagnostic test designed to detect signs of organ rejection in kidney, heart, liver, and lung transplant recipients. One contractor cut the amount of coverage for the tests last year, stating that simply patients could get them in place of a more aggressive biopsy.
However, the blood testing tests were intended to serve as a warning sign properly before a biopsy was required; instead, they were intended to be used more frequently to improve the monitoring of rejection signs. Patients would only be given the blood tests once signs of tissue rejection and destruction had become more visible, making this novel monitoring device of little use for patients because they equate these less intrusive tests to biopsies.
Doctors are aware of the worth of this therapy, even if the Medicare company purposefully disregarded their suggestions. Five of the six transplant doctors surveyed by the Medicare company agreed that the data supported monitoring of liver individuals, and all six clinicians believed that the tests may help reduce the need for samples in otherwise-healthy transplant recipients who do n’t show signs of rejection, according to The  and Wall Street Journal.
In summary, health experts think that this new testing technique may help maintain recipients of organ transplants in better health and prevent having to undergo unnecessary and invasive procedures like biopsies to maintain their health. Except for state bean-counters like those that focus on Medicare’s bag strings, it makes perfect sense.
The Medicare specialist fought against making a decision that was incongruent with the opinions of its health experts by requesting an FOIA request.  ,
Caring for the Elderly and Disabled
My girl does have a lung or liver transplantation to keep her life as the mother of a child with cystic fibrosis. And as an advocate for those with disabilities, and former member of the National Council on Disability, I worry about what decisions like those surrounding this screening test — which seemed obvious to Medicare’s self- selected experts — say about our country’s priorities.
I remember the Obamacare debates back in 2009, when President Barack Obama responded , to a woman asking about the care for her elderly but healthy mother by saying,” Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller”. I fear that this mentality, of casting off the old, vulnerable, and “less valuable”, is growing in our society— and directly led to this contractor’s medically indefensible decision.
The Medicare program faces financial shortfalls, and yes, it needs reform. However, there are far better ways to modernize Medicare than to refuse medical care to vulnerable patients solely for cost reasons and then try to conceal the evidence from the public’s view. Transplant recipients deserve better, and so do we as well.
Mary Vought is Independent Women’s Forum’s senior fellow and the Heritage Foundation’s vice president of communications.
