Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Dispute Over Kidney Care Coverage

The Supreme Court will review the scope of federal laws governing how employee health plans must treat patients with end-stage kidney disease.

The dispute stems from a lawsuit a dialysis provider brought against an Ohio hospital’s health plan for treating all dialysis providers as “out-of-network” and reimbursing them at the lowest level rate.

Because there’s a lack of in-network dialysis providers, DaVita Inc. argues Marietta Memorial Hospital’s employee health benefit plan incentivizes patients to switch to Medicare to avoid paying higher co-pays, co-insurance, and deductibles for life-sustaining care. Nearly all people with end-stage kidney disease qualify for Medicare regardless of ...