HIV+Hep’s Carl Schmid spoke at the NMAC’s 2022 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit on efforts to create a national program to increase the promotion of PrEP to those communities most in need & their providers, ways PrEP can be covered and made more affordable and accessible, implementation barriers and how to overcome them, and ideas on how to provide PrEP for the uninsured & underinsured.

“To end infectious diseases, we always need more scientific advances, but it is going to take a strategic, coordinated, & resourced public health response. Fortunately, we now have national strategic plans to end several infectious diseases including viral hepatitis, HIV, & STIs. A strength included in all the plans is a reliance on taking a syndemic approach to these often intersecting epidemics. Together we can get to the finish line faster.”

President Biden is proposing an increase of $377 million for the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative for a total of $850 million for efforts to end HIV by 2030. Additionally, in response to the HIV community and several members of Congress’ request to develop a program to increase access to PrEP, which are medications that prevent HIV, the president’s budget calls for the creation of an ambitious ten-year $9.8 billion nationwide PrEP delivery program. The budget includes numerous other program increases, including a bump of $13.5 million for the CDC’s hepatitis division.

“In the omnibus appropriations bill released recently, Congress has significantly slowed the increase of funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative and put in jeopardy efforts to end HIV by 2030. Instead of supporting an increase of $245 million, as was proposed in President Biden’s budget and passed by the House and proposed by Senate Democratic leaders, the final bill allocates an increase of only $70 million for HIV testing, prevention, treatment, and research programs for those jurisdictions most impacted by HIV . . . . The funding level for hepatitis falls well short of the community’s request of $134 million for the CDC Hepatitis Division.”

The federal government issued guidance to insurers to remind them of their obligation to cover pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which are drugs that prevent HIV, at no cost to their beneficiaries. The guidance, in the form of an FAQ, also clarifies that associated services with PrEP, such as provider visits and HIV, hepatitis, and STD testing along with other laboratory tests, must also be covered with no patient cost-sharing.