HIV+Hep in the News

The nonprofit patient advocacy group HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute said they are pleased with the rule, as they continue to receive complaints surrounding coverage of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a drug regimen taken to prevent HIV. The group says some health plans are denying claims or still requiring cost sharing for certain codes.

“With low uptake of PrEP among the communities most impacted by HIV, this insurance coverage requirement with zero cost-sharing will help jumpstart the use of more effective forms of PrEP and lead to fewer HIV transmissions,” Carl Schmid, a gay man who is executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, stated about the Biden administration’s announcement.

Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+ Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement before the new guidance, some insurers may have only covered daily oral PrEP. “With low uptake of PrEP among the communities most impacted by HIV, this insurance coverage requirement with zero cost-sharing will help jumpstart the use of more effective forms of PrEP and lead to fewer HIV transmissions,” Schmid said Monday (Oct. 21). “The updated USPSTF recommendation is not drug-specific, but rather for PrEP in general to prevent HIV which includes ‘effective antiretroviral therapy.’ This will be important as new longer acting PrEP drugs become available.”