457. Is Dialysis a Test Case of Medicare for All?

Ryan McDevitt, an economist at Duke University, and Jeff Gillian, a kidney specialist and chief medical officer at DaVita, dive into the controversial dynamics of the dialysis industry. They analyze how low Medicare reimbursement rates have pushed the industry toward profit-driven practices, often at the expense of patient care. The pair discusses troubling data on the consolidation of dialysis providers, ethical dilemmas in treatment decisions, and legislative challenges aimed at improving patient outcomes within a profit-centric system.