Retired Miami Heat basketball player and NBA All-Star Alonzo Mourning made an impassioned plea to lawmakers today seeking support of a bill that would help kidney patients pay for medical coverage.

Mourning was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder and received a kidney transplant nine years ago at the age of 30 when he “was at the top of my game,” he told Senate Democrats at a luncheon this afternoon.

“The last thing on my mind at that particular time was thinking about kidney disease,” Mourning said.

“I was 30 years old. I was at the top of my game. MVP in the league. Olympic gold medalist. All-Star. You name it. So it was truly a humbling experience,” he said.

The transplant from Mourning’s relative allowed him to get back on the court and win a world championship.

“That’s a storybook life,” he said.

Mourning, who had health insurance provided by the NBA, spoke on behalf of a bill (SB 1022, HB 675) that would help about 500 less fortunate Floridians with end stage renal failure who lack the medical insurance to pay for expensive post-transplant drugs.

The kidney patients under the age of 65 are eligible for Medicare because of the disease but may lack supplemental insurance, called “Medigap,” now limited to individuals over age 65.

The Medigap insurance would cover the 20 percent of medical costs not covered by Medicare. Those costs amount to about $5,000 per month for just one post-transplant drug and often force patients to spend down their savings and wind up on Medicaid, where the state then has to foot the bill.

The bill would allow the kidney patients under age 65 to purchase the Medigap insurance and could save the state up to $25 million over five years in Medicaid payments, proponents of the bill believe.

The National Kidney Foundation would help pay for premiums for the private coverage.

Tags: Democrats, State House, State Senate

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