Consider the vital care this hospital provides

Manhattan: Re “Looking up at Downstate” (editorial, Jan. 28): Historically, biased listing criteria, including raced-based algorithms, have resulted in the exclusion of low-income and Black/African-American people from receiving kidney transplants. As the only safety net, or “public” hospital in the city with a kidney transplant program, cutting this vital lifeline that SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital provides would be a devastating blow to these communities.

SUNY Downstate (photo) contracts with most Essential Plans and many Medicaid HMO plans, which exclusively support low-income people. In contrast, the voluntary or “private” hospitals often contract with a limited number of Essential Plans and Medicaid HMO plans, creating a patchwork of access that leaves the most vulnerable behind.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system, in 2023, Medicaid patients accounted for 31.6% of kidney transplant recipients at SUNY Downstate. In contrast, at NYU Langone, the next closest transplant center, that number drops to 10.6%. That same year, at SUNY Downstate, 100% of transplant recipients were non-white, including multiracial individuals, 85% of whom identified as Black, non-Hispanic. At NYU, 65% of recipients identified as non-white with only around 24% identifying as Black, non-Hispanic.

Any plans for SUNY Downstate must ensure support for SUNY patients who are listed and/or are in the process of being listed to obtain a transplant. Most importantly, robust financial support is necessary to ensure that SUNY’s Kidney Transplant Program can continue serving the most marginalized communities within the five boroughs.

Karina Albistegui Adler co-director, health justice program New York Lawyers for the Public Interest