Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatits Policy Institute, said that while it’s good CMS is interested in addressing the coding problems that advocates identified, the agency still needs to do more. “Unfortunately, it isn’t enough. People are still being charged for cost-sharing,” Schmid said at a recent congressional briefing on HIV.
“Even though insurers are collecting assistance from drug makers, those sums are not ‘counted’ by the patient’s insurance company, leaving the patient unable to pay for their treatment when the manufacturer assistance ends or the patient attempts to access other healthcare items or services,” Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute, wrote March 12 to state insurance commissioners.
“While we would have liked to see improved outcomes, federal funding for CDC HIV prevention and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS care and treatment program, along with other critical programs, has remained flat for years,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “The only increases have been for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, and even that program hasn’t received the increases it needs to be successful. Without significant increases for care and treatment, and prevention programs, including those for PrEP, sadly we will continue to experience only small drops in the number of new diagnoses, and racial and ethnic disparities will persist. As a nation, we can and must do better.”
“Before we had COVID, hepatitis C was the most deadly infectious disease that’s reportable to the CDC,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.mHowever, in the last few years there has been a greater emphasis placed on hepatitis C including the Biden Administration’s Eliminate Hepatitis C plan and the CDC’s updated screening guidelines. These newer initiatives combined with the existing curative therapies make the timing right to gain inroads to bring down incidence rates and cure those who may be undiagnosed with the silent killer.
“While we would have liked to see improved outcomes, federal funding for CDC HIV prevention and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS care and treatment program, along with other critical programs, has remained flat for years,” Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement. “Without significant increases for care and treatment and prevention programs, including those for PrEP, sadly we will continue to experience only small drops in the number of new diagnoses, and racial and ethnic disparities will persist. As a nation, we can and must do better.”