The American people have spoken and elected Donald Trump and JD Vance as our next President and Vice President. The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute will work with the new administration on furthering efforts to end HIV and hepatitis in the United States. With proper leadership, policies, and funding, we can end both these infectious diseases.
Biden-Harris administration requires insurers to cover long-acting PrEP to prevent HIV
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. We are grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for responding to our request to issue this guidance. Without it, we feel some insurers would continue to only cover daily oral PrEP, and not provide PrEP users with the choice they need. With up to a third of privately insured PrEP users still being charged cost-sharing, we must ensure that both federal and state regulators vigorously enforce PrEP coverage requirements.
Medicare Beneficiaries Can Now Access PrEP Without Cost-Sharing
“We commend the Biden-Harris administration for increasing PrEP uptake using all the tools at its disposal. Patient cost-sharing has been a significant barrier for Medicare beneficiaries. With this new NCD, people on Medicare can join those with private insurance who can access PrEP without cost-sharing. Now we have to make sure these policies are properly implemented and enforced,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.
Twice a Year HIV Prevention Drug May Soon Be Available
The goal now must be to ensure that people who have a reason to be on PrEP are able to access this miracle drug. Thanks to the ACA, insurers must cover PrEP without cost-sharing as a preventive service. Insurers should not be given the choice to cover just daily oral PrEP, particularly given these remarkable results . The Biden-Harris administration should immediately make that clear. To date, they have yet to do that for the first long-acting PrEP drug that new plans now must cover.
Senate appropriators maintain funding for domestic HIV & hepatitis programs
“We sincerely thank Senate Labor HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tammy Baldwin and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito and their colleagues for demonstrating their continued commitment to ending HIV in the United States. While working within the confines of an extremely restrictive budget, they crafted a spending bill that prioritizes the domestic response to HIV,” commented Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “However, given that the House version of the bill includes sizeable funding cuts, program eliminations and divisive policy riders, we realize passage of this spending bill is far from reality. House Republicans must come to the table and support bills, such as this one, that can pass the Congress and be signed by the President.”