Insurance

I am fortunate to have a possible living donor, but as a backup plan, I have also listed at Stanford Medical Center for a deceased donor's kidney. The problem is that the average wait time is currently 8-10 years, and the average number of years that one usually survives while on dialysis is 4-6 years.

It's possible to get listed at more than one facility, so I recently tried getting listed at UC Davis Medical Center. I had not heard back from them for over a month. I called and learned that my insurance through work, Cigna, is no longer contracted with UC Davis, and thus my application to get listed through them was denied.

It seems totally arbitrary that Cigna would stop working with them, but I've learned an important lesson. When it comes to medical insurance, don't take it for granted that yours covers you wherever you want. Check first!

I'm now looking into Portland's Oregon Health and Science University and Seattle's University of Washington Medical Center, both of which Cigna contracts with. They also have shorter average waiting times at 2-3 years each.