HIV+Hep in the News

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Despite federal rules, HIV prevention drug still comes with costs

by | Jan 8, 2023

Advocates say that several insurance companies are flouting mandates that grant most commercially insured patients free access to PrEP drugs, which reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 percent and from injecting drugs by at least 74 percent when taken as prescribed, according to the CDC. “We don’t want to put up any barriers to people accessing PrEP,” said Carl Schmid, executive director at HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “People want to be on PrEP for a reason. They feel they could be vulnerable.”

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HIV advocates call plans from insurer Blue Cross NC ‘discriminatory’

by | Jan 6, 2023

Two HIV advocacy organizations say that’s especially true for some potential and current patients covered by the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The North Carolina AIDS Action Network and the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute claim that the insurer is discriminating against patients with HIV or at risk of HIV by charging “enormous out-of-pocket costs for nearly all HIV drugs” in complaints filed last month with the NC Department of Insurance and the Office of Civil Rights at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

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Congress increases funding to end HIV but still comes up short

by | Dec 22, 2022

“The increases will help expand HIV programs in the targeted jurisdictions most impacted by HIV,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in a statement. However, “given that Congress again has not fully funded the initiative and has not provided dedicated funding for a national PrEP program, ending HIV by 2030 will be in serious jeopardy.”

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Congress approves $100m boost to HIV/AIDS initiatives

by | Dec 20, 2022

“The increases will help expand HIV programs in the targeted jurisdictions most impacted by HIV,” said Carl Schmid, [the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute’s] executive director. However, “given that Congress again has not fully funded the initiative and has not provided dedicated funding for a national PrEP program, ending HIV by 2030 will be in serious jeopardy.”

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Blue Cross Blue Shield NC is discriminating against people with HIV, advocates claim

by | Dec 20, 2022

The state’s largest health insurance provider is discriminating against people with HIV by forcing them to pay more for their drugs, two advocacy groups claim in a complaint filed with the federal department of health and the North Carolina Insurance Department. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina placed nearly all standard HIV medications in drug tiers with the highest out-of-pocket costs in its 2022 and 2023 formularies, the groups say. HIV medications on lower tiers either can’t be used on their own or are no longer recommended, according to an analysis from the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute and North Carolina AIDS Action Network.

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