How end stage renal disease creates, enhances and promotes poverty for patients in the United States

End Stage Renal Disease impacts the lives of over 750,000 patients and their families in the United States. It is well documented that the treatment is both expensive and takes a physical and fi nancial toll on the patient and their respective families [1]. Depending on the treatment modality, many patients fall out of the workforce under the age of 65 and depend on disability to survive creating an additional expense for the government and the general economy through a lower utilization of the workforce [2]. The question, which has been somewhat explored, is if the diagnosis of renal failure leads to inevitable poverty? Despite coverage ratios and access to care, it still seems to negate that undergoing such a treatment regime removes the economic impact to the patient as well as society in general in addition, in many cases, of a quality of life previously experienced.