Kidney fund
Kidney fund is a type of fund that aims at providing financial help to all those persons that are suffering from different types of kidney related ailments and diseases. Aid is provided by means of different types of programs and this type of fund is mostly managed by organizations that work on not-for-profit basis. Financial assistance is provided for treatment of diseases related to kidney, for the kidney transplants and for meeting out the expenses related to dialysis.
Functions of kidney fund:
A part from providing financial assistance for the treatment of kidney related diseases and expenses related to dialysis, there are many other types of assistance provided by kidney fund. All those persons that wish to donate their kidneys for helping other people suffering from kidney diseases are provided limited grants so that they can meet out expenses related to transportation, medication etc. Most of kidney funds also undertake to educate public at large about the causes, treatment and prevention of various types of kidney related diseases. This help people in understanding basic concepts about various types of diseases associated with company and getting treatment for them. Apart from all of above, most of kidney funds also offer different types of conferences to patients. They also provide grants to different types of organizations and institutes involved in clinical research of diseases related to kidney. The reader may note that the assistance provided by the kidney fund is in the form of insurance co-payments mostly or in the form of grants that are given for meeting out the expenditure of kidney related diseases.
Most of kidney funds also take out different types of publications that aim at providing education to public. Maintenance of a toll free number is also another feature of a kidney fund.
Types of assistance provided:
There are many types in which assistance is provided by kidney fund. First common type is the patient assistance program. In this type of assistance, the financial aid is provided directly to the patients that have to spend at dialysis and kidney transplants. Both of these treatments require good amount of money. Sometimes contacting social worker at the dialysis center is also a good idea for getting necessary aid from a kidney fund. Individual assistance program is other type of program under which financial help is provided to all those persons that need money for kidney diseases, dialysis etc. Under this program, funds are not provided directly to the patient and instead, it is provided to all the qualified patients that are referred by various social workers and physicians.
Thus, it is an indirect way of providing grant to all the needy people. Apart from above, grant is provided for other expenses related to kidney treatment like medicines purchased from outside, transportation, kidney donation expenses, dentures etc. One of major programs under which assistance is provided by kidney fund to various patients is the Pharmacy Grant Program. Under this program, all the qualified patients that need urgent medicines, medical supplies and nutritional products are provided financial assistance. In most of cases, kidney funds makes contract with different pharmaceutical companies for providing medicines and other medical supplies at discounted prices. Kidney funds also run disaster relief program which help various people to lead a normal life after they have been hit by any type of catastrophic events or natural disasters like floods, hurricanes etc. Funds are provided for the purchase of medicines, household items, food etc. There are also many kidney funds that provide financial assistance to a person for meeting out the expenditures related to dialysis when he is traveling. In such cases, the grants may be limited to any serious illness or death and are given only when the cost of treatment is not covered under different insurance policies.
Some facts:
To understand the extent of financial assistance that is being provided by most of kidney funds, let us take an example of AKF or the American Kidney Fund. In the past one year, about 20% of people living in United States have received financial assistance from this fund for dialysis. Founded in the year 1971, this kidney fund has helped thousands of peoplein receiving treatment for various types of kidney related diseases. It is very interesting to note that number of patients that were able to get the health insurance coverage by getting premium amounts from AKF is more than 32000. This tells that apart from providing direct assistance to all the kidney patients, indirect assistance is also provided by this kidney fund. Most of the policies were provided by Medigap and Medicare.
This fund has helped more than 15000 patients to meet the expenditures related to vehicle repairs, fuel and other requirements that arise due to dialysis treatments while traveling. In other words, this fund has helped thousands of people to receive financial aid for the dialysis treatment when they are moving to or from some other place. Number of people that have been given emergency cash grants by this fund at various dialysis centers for meeting out expenditures of medicines and transportation is more than 6400. Number of patients that received nutrition supplements or durable medical supplies and other over the counter medicines by means of financial assistance from this fund is more than 4500. Similarly, this kidney fund has helped about 1500 patients in making co-payments for the prescribed medicines. Apart from all of the above, this kidney fund has also helped many people in receiving financial assistance for the expenses related to other related activities like wheel chair ramp construction at home, dental treatment and expenses that were made related to kidney donation. The above data tells us that many people in United States have received help for different types of diseases and ailments related to kidney. This kidney fund also offers kidney screenings free of cost in Chicago, Washington D.C and Atlanta. This type of assistance is provided by Minority Intervention and Kidney Education Program.
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