Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is accused of discrimination for requiring HIV-infected individuals to pay high out of pocket costs for their medications, according to a complaint lodged with the Health and Human Services Department.
A new modeling study by the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute concludes that a $6 billion federal investment over a decade for drugs that prevent HIV infections, such as through the Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) program (UCLA Health), could reduce new HIV infections by 75 percent. The institute is lobbying Congress for additional HIV funding, arguing that taxpayers could eradicate the virus in the United States, achieving an estimated medical cost savings of $2.27 billion annually.
Two HIV organizations are accusing Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina of discriminating against people who use drugs to treat or prevent the virus. The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute and the North Carolina AIDS Action Network filed discrimination complaints Thursday against the insurer for placing nearly all HIV medications on its highest-cost drug tiers.
HIV and hepatitis groups filed discrimination complaints against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, alleging that the health insurer placed nearly all HIV medications on the most expensive tiers. The complaints were filed by the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute and the North Carolina AIDS Action Network with the federal Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as with the North Carolina Department of Insurance.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday noted the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has saved more than 25 million lives since its launch in 2003. Blinken, who spoke at the Business Council for International Understanding’s World AIDS Day event at the Hay-Adams Hotel in D.C., said the more than $100 billion the U.S. has earmarked for PEPFAR over the last two decades has funded 70,000 new community health clinics, 3,000 new laboratories and the hiring of 340,000 health care workers.