From brother to brother, a kidney, and a life

Angel's brother offered something precious: a healthy kidney to restore his life. But for two years, the obstacles to the transplant seemed insuperable. Angel, the father of two American-born children, is an illegal immigrant. And a maze of conflicting healthcare and immigration policies meant that while the government would pay for a lifetime of dialysis, costing $75,000 yearly, it would not pay for a $100,000 transplant that would make dialysis unnecessary. In New York, Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor, covers the cost of dialysis, considering it an emergency measure, regardless of whether the patient is a legal resident of the United States.