HIV+Hep in the News

Carl Schmid on Supreme Court ruling upholding ACA preventive coverage and its impact on HIV prevention

Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, called the [Supreme Court] decision [in Kennedy v Braidwood Management] “significant” and a win for public health protections. Reflecting on the broader impact of the ruling, Schmid noted its roots in bipartisan support for preventive care embedded in the original passage of the ACA, “When the Affordable Care Act was passed, Senator Harkin from Iowa emphasized the importance of focusing on prevention, not just treating people when they are sick. Everyone wanted their preventive services covered. We were up there pushing for coverage of things like HIV testing,” he explained.

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A cautionary victory for now: More about the Supreme Court’s ruling on preventive health care

This is a great victory for health care in our country and for everyone who believes in prevention, including the Trump administration. This legal attack was initiated by extreme right-wing social conservatives who sought to make sure that gay men and others could not access PrEP to prevent HIV. We are very pleased the Court upheld the coverage requirement. Now we must focus on making sure insurers comply with and regulators enforce the law, particularly with new, long-acting forms of PrEP. This victory is all the more important now that the Trump administration is seeking to defund much of CDC’s HIV and hepatitis prevention programs.

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