Caring for Undocumented Immigrants With Kidney Disease

The care of dialysis-dependent undocumented immigrants exemplifies a problem at the crux of 2 US national agendas: immigration and health care reform. Undocumented immigrants represent 3% of the US population and 27% of the uninsured, and an estimated 6,500 individuals are dialysis dependent. With no uniform national policy, an estimated 30% to 50% of these individuals receive treatment only in life-threatening situations (emergent dialysis). Since 2005, about 400 undocumented immigrants have received a kidney transplant (>70% living).

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