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Rev. Al Sharpton and musician Al B. Sure! are welcoming support from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as they call on the Biden administration to reverse a decision made this year to eliminate Medicare coverage for blood tests that have the potential to detect early signs of organ rejection in organ transplant recipients.
Sharpton and Al B! launched the Health Equity in Transplantation Coalition (HETC) last week in an effort to reverse a March 2, 2023, decision made on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Coverage by a private Medicare administrative contractor to rescind Medicare coverage of the blood tests that had been in place since at least 2017.
Known as a billing article, the decision restricts access to non-invasive post-transplant testing for patients with a heart, lung or kidney transplant. The contractor's decision reportedly came after it was made aware of improper billing and overuse of the tests.
"We have to reverse this decision," Al B!, who serves as executive chairman of HETC, told Fox News Digital. "Joe Biden does have the power to reverse this. So we are asking everyone to come together in unison, to really put forth an effort to just hone in and focus on listening."
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, musician Al B. Sure!, and civil rights activist Al Sharpton (Getty Images)
"I think starting with 2017, reaffirmed in 2021, Medicare provided coverage for these blood tests, and then they made the decision in like a three-week period or something of that nature," he added. "They just need to bring the coverage back."
The decision affected the musician in a personal way after he received a life-saving liver transplant in 2022. "The bottom line is we really don't think that it's appropriate that a private company can come along and make a decision such as that which affects so many lives," he said.
Al B! also suggested there's no partisanship in the world of transplantation, expressing the importance of putting politics aside because the important procedures can have an impact on people from all walks of life.
"This transplantation community is a community that has no prejudice because, you know, liver disease and things of that nature, or heart disease and kidney disease, there's no prejudice," he said. "This is not about politics."
As a transplant patient, Al B! referred to himself as a "walking billboard" for the effort after being in a coma from July to October 2022. The musician also said he's "so appreciative" of Sharpton for his advocacy in the aftermath of his transplant.
Al B. Sure! performs during WBLS Presents Circle of Sisters on Nov. 11, 2023, in New York City.
Despite transplants being medical necessities for individuals of all different races, the restrictions on Medicare coverage of transplant patient blood tests to detect early signs of organ rejection, the pair said, disproportionately impacts minorities.
"Black, Hispanic, Latino and underserved communities were given a lifeline with these non-invasive tests. That was taken away in March 2023, when a private company decided Medicare would no longer cover this life-saving measure for transplant recipients, who overwhelmingly come from these communities," Sharpton said in a statement. "It’s time we reverse this decision and allow transplant recipients to have access to more and better tools – not less."
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Similarly, Al B! said the "blood tests are especially important to transplant patients in the Black, Hispanic, Latino, and underserved transplant communities" and that "it makes no sense to take away Medicare coverage for these underserved transplant recipients who can take these blood tests at home."
"Rather than tying Medicare to an invasive biopsy that might require expensive travel, time off work for their patient and caregiver, and surgery in a hospital," he added.
Amid their mission, both Sharpton and Al B! have welcomed support from Gingrich for the restoration of Medicare coverage for surveillance blood tests without ties to possible biopsies.
Gingrich, who served as the 50th speaker of the House from 1995 to 1998, told Fox News Digital he has witnessed firsthand how the decision can impact individuals who have had transplants.
"I have a brother and a sister who both had lung transplants. I have a sister-in-law who had a liver transplant. So I know firsthand the complexities and the importance of constant monitoring. All three of them, thank God, are doing very, very well," he said. "The ability to monitor and catch any problems very, very early is important both to the health of the patient, but is also dramatically less expensive than having something start to go really bad and having to have a significant intervention."
Gingrich, who served as the 50th speaker of the House from 1995 to 1998, told Fox News Digital he has witnessed firsthand how the decision to rescind the Medicare coverage can impact individuals who have had transplants. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Gingrich said he was shocked that the Medicare group that looked into the matter would dismiss blood tests, which he said cause the least interruption in a person's life, and opt for biopsies, which he noted "can be fatal and could lead to infection."
"What you want to have is a relatively convenient, inexpensive test so you can constantly monitor everybody who's getting a transplant. Remember, there are currently 100,000 people waiting for transplants. Seventeen people die every day while on the waiting list.… The goal of the transplant is to enable you to live a long and complete life," he added.
Asked about working alongside Sharpton to put pressure on the Biden administration to reverse the decision, Gingrich said he is "looking forward to maximizing public attention to the issue" and furthering their message "that we want the best, most advanced science to provide the most convenient, least expensive method" to provide the maximum health for transplant recipients.
"Sharpton and I had been recruited by Obama years ago to go and work on education reform. We actually traveled the country talking about the importance of education reform. I found working with Sharpton remarkably practical. He's a funny guy and he's smart guy," Gingrich said of the civil rights activist, whose political beliefs differ immensely from those of the former speaker.
"This is clearly, if you have Gingrich and Sharpton, this has to be a bipartisan issue," he added.
That sentiment was also shared by Sharpton, who said, "The fact that Newt and I are in lock-step agreement – along with a broad bipartisan group of transplant patients, physicians and members of Congress – demonstrates how extremely abhorrent these attempted rollbacks are."
President Biden meets with organizers of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, including Rev. Al Sharpton, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Aug. 28, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Asked about Gingrich's support, Al B! echoed Sharpton's welcoming of Gingrich to the cause.
"I think it's phenomenal," he said of the prominent Republican's support. "I applaud Newt Gingrich. … I'm elated, I'm excited. I applaud both gentlemen for being able to put things aside, any differences related to political parties or anything of that nature."
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Sharpton also said that he and Al B! "especially appreciate" recent op-eds penned by Gingrich in support of a reversal of the March decision.
The trio will all give remarks, either in person or virtually, during a Tuesday press conference on Capitol Hill to build momentum for the effort and call on President Biden and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to "urgently intervene" and reverse the decision. They will be joined in the Cannon Caucus Room by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., the American Association of Kidney Patient’s (AAKP) Chair of Policy and Global Affairs Paul T. Conway, and others.
