Undocumented people face increased barriers to accessing health coverage and care, including treatment for kidney disease. In this episode, our guest experts discuss what treatment options are currently available for undocumented people and what kind of advocacy efforts are being made to improve their access to health care. 

On this episode, we spoke with:

Lilia Cervantes, MD

Dr. Cervantes received her undergraduate degree at CU Boulder and completed both her medical degree and internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  Her background as a first generation Latina inspired her deep commitment to becoming a physician as well as her community service, advocacy, and research focused on promoting social justice in medical education and care.  Dr. Cervantes has worked for over 12 years as an internal medicine hospitalist at Denver Health, the safety-net hospital, and has dedicated her career to creating a healthcare workforce that is diverse as well as conducting research to improve person-centered and clinical outcomes among Latinx patients on dialysis.  The catalyst for her interest in improving outcomes for Latinx patients with chronic kidney disease was a former undocumented Latina patient with kidney failure who struggled with emergency dialysis (dialysis in the emergency department when critically ill) and ultimately died. Funded by the RWJF and the Doris Duke Foundation, Dr. Cervantes discovered the worse outcomes of undocumented immigrants who rely only on emergency dialysis. In 2019, as a result of Dr. Cervantes’ research and stakeholder engagement, Colorado Medicaid opted to include the diagnosis of kidney failure as a qualifying condition under Emergency Medicaid thereby expanding access to standard dialysis.  In addition to her work with the undocumented kidney failure community, Dr. Cervantes is developing culturally tailored interventions that will address the social challenges faced by racial/ethnic minorities with chronic kidney disease.

Luz Baqueiro

Luz was diagnosed with end stage renal disease in 2018 and has recently received a kidney transplant. Luz started dialysis in the ER for almost a year this being the she did not qualify for any government assistance like Medicaid or the marketplace because she is not a born US citizen. She joined the NKF Advocacy Team after experiencing firsthand what is like not to be able to receive the care you need simple because you are not a citizen she felt she need it to raise awareness on this issues, to share her story and the story of many others who are not getting the proper care they so desperately need.

Additional resources:

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