The federal government will pay more than $100,000 to give someone a kidney transplant, but after three years, the government will often stop paying for the drugs needed to keep that transplanted kidney alive, a news report says.

According to the federal kidney program, Medicare will pay for a kidney transplant, but coverage ends 36 months (three years) afterwards, the NPR report says.

The result is that, after three years, patients no longer can afford the drugs needed to keep their transplanted kidney viable, the report notes.

The report details the case of Constance Creasey, 60, which NPR says is one of thousands of people caught in this bind.

Creasey started kidney dialysis about 12 years ago, after her kidney’s failed, and then finally underwent a kidney transplant.

But the dark cloud is that Medicare will stop paying for the drugs that her body needs so it will not reject the transplant.

About 30 percent of people who undergo transplants find themselves in this dilemma, the report says.

If these drugs aren’t taken religiously, the kidney can fail, and the patients will find themselves back on dialysis, which is a much more expensive cost than the drugs would have been, the report says.

Creasy is about one-and-a-half years into her transplant, the report says.

“Those pills are my life right now,” Creasy says, adding, “I’m trying not to worry, but it’s hard.”