America spends more than anyone, yet sees more patients die
(NEWSER) - America’s Medicare dialysis program, once seen as a triumph for the masses, has become a “hulking monster,” writes Robin Fields in an exhaustive ProPublica investigation. Since 1972, treatment has been provided, through Medicare, for virtually anyone with kidney failure, regardless of age or income. Today, the US spends $20 billion a year on dialysis care—more, per patient, than any other nation—yet has among the highest mortality rates. To find out why, ProPublica interviewed more than 100 patients, doctors, and researchers, and pored over thousands of documents. It discovered a bleak picture: Clinics are largely unsanitary, and feature few quality controls. More»
