Who would complain about keeping people alive on dialysis? Me, that's who
Treating ESRD patients cost the United States over $40 billion in public and private funds in 2009. [1]
The average annual cost for a dialysis patient, including hospitalization, is between $70,000 and $100,000 per patient [1]
The overall number of patients receiving dialysis increased from 296,000 in 2001 to more than 430,000 by 2011 as more Americans developed chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. [2]
Hemodialysis used by more than 90% of dialysis patients. [2]
Usually, each hemodialysis treatment lasts about four hours and is done three times per week. [3]
4 * 3 * 52 = 624 hours per person per year
0.9 * 430,000 = 387,000 patients
624 * 387,000 = 241,488,000 hours per year in dialysis
365 * 24 = 8760 hours per year
241,488,000 / 8760 = 27,567 dialysis years per year
27,567 / 52 = 530 dialysis years per week
530 / 7 = 76 dialysis years per day
[1] http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/KUDiseases/pubs/kustats/
[2] http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20141011/NEWS/141019999/dialysis-demand-strong-as-kidney-disease-grows
[3] https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/dialysisinfo
