No cash, no heart. Transplant centers need to know you can pay.

When Patrick Mannion heard about the Michigan woman denied a heart transplant because she couldn’t afford the anti-rejection drugs, he knew what she was up against.

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On social media posts of a letter that went viral last month, Hedda Martin, 60, of Grand Rapids, was informed that she was not a candidate for a heart transplant because of her finances. It recommended “a fund-raising effort of $10,000.”

Two years ago, Mr. Mannion, of Oxford, Conn., learned he needed a double-lung transplant after contracting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive, fatal disease. From the start, hospital officials told him to set aside $30,000 in a separate bank account to cover the costs.

Mr. Mannion, 59, who received his new lungs in May 2017, reflected: “Here you are, you need a heart — that’s a tough road for any person,” he said. “And then for that person to have to be a fund-raiser?”

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