A leading U.S. HIV patient advocate applauded the trial results. “This is the future of PrEP and treatment,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute to Inside Health Policy. “And will help with adherence and closing racial and ethnic disparities.”
Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said the lack of investment in labs and provider visits inhibited the program. “You need the outreach, you need the lab, you need the providers,” Schmid told Inside Health Policy. “You need a comprehensive program.” Schmid noted that creating a replacement national program will be difficult.
One reason for the program’s low uptake, those advocates said, is that it only covered the costly PrEP medication but not the doctor visits or blood work necessary for a prescription. It also did not include funding for outreach or education about the drug. “It just proves that it’s not just the price of the drug, it’s all the other services that go with PrEP,” Carl Schmid, president of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said. “You need a doctor to provide the drug, you need the labs — that was the failure.”
“If Trump is re-elected President, we would hope he will support increases in order to fund the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative (program) he launched,” Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement to Inside Health Policy. “The Senate will most likely proceed in a bipartisan fashion, which bodes well for us. But we realize the situation we are in and will continue to educate members on both sides of the aisle on the importance of funding domestic HIV programs.”
“Long-acting PrEP can be the answer to low PrEP uptake, particularly in communities not using PrEP today,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “The Biden administration has an opportunity to ensure that people with private insurance can access PrEP now and into the future, free of any cost-sharing, with properly worded guidance to insurers.”