Letter: Budget advances kidney research

COVID-19 revealed we can develop scientific breakthroughs to fight new viruses in just a few years. A May 24 article on COVID coming back made me think about the tidal wave of new kidney patients created by COVID-19 infections, yet innovations in kidney treatment options have stayed the same.

As a husband of a kidney transplant recipient who experienced many complications due to dialysis, ranging from major surgeries and poorly performing fistulas to open-heart surgery, I often wonder why dialysis and transplant have been the only options for kidney disease for the last fifty years. I fear the answer is funding.

I'm grateful to congressmen Quigley, Underwood, Bustos and others for supporting the 2022 federal budget which increases funding to kidney disease detection and research. No, this budget doesn't "fix" kidney disease, which affects over 37 million adults in the U.S. (800,000 of them are in kidney failure), but it's a step in the right direction.

Medicare spends more than $150 billion annually - 24% of its budget - on treating patients with kidney disease. Studies estimate that over a million patients will be in kidney failure by 2030.

We can't continue to focus tax-dollars on treating end-stage kidney failure with 50-year-old treatment options. Prevention, awareness, research, innovation and early interventions are needed as well as more options.

I'm calling on our federal lawmakers to prioritize funding to address kidney health in the coming fiscal year. The science and ability are there, we just need the will and financial support to do it.

Gerardo Huerta

Harwood Heights