Employer-sponsored insurance is the most common form of health insurance in the United States, covering over 60 percent of the population under 65.[1] As we detail below, many employers have begun to create new health insurance barriers that prevent employees and their family members from accessing the medications they need to stay alive and healthy. Our comments focus on certain novel benefit designs that have become more prevalent in recent years among employer-sponsored insurance plans: copay accumulators, copay maximizers, and alternative funding programs, as well as the practice of skirting ACA requirements by designating certain specialty medications as non-Essential Health Benefits.
House testimony on FY24 appropriations for HIV and hepatitis programs
Our nation can eliminate both HIV and viral hepatitis, but without an infusion of new resources to accelerate our efforts, we will continue to fall short of these ambitious goals. Increased investment in surveillance, education, prevention, and care and treatment will ensure we continue to address HIV and viral hepatitis, including taking a syndemic approach to achieve maximum impact. The programs and funding increases detailed below are pivotal to our nation’s ability to end both these potentially deadly infectious diseases.
Comments on proposed national elimination plan for hepatitis C
HIV+Hep offered comments on the proposed national elimination plan for hepatitis C, asking how the initiative would be funded and authorized, where the initiative would be housed, and why there is a need for the government to purchase medications.
Testimony in support of increased funding for domestic HIV and hepatitis programs in the House FY 2023 Labor, HHS spending bill
On behalf of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, we respectfully submit this testimony in support of increased funding for domestic HIV and hepatitis programs in the FY 2023 Labor, HHS spending bill. Our nation is on a path to eliminating two infectious diseases, HIV and viral hepatitis, but we need increased funding to accelerate our efforts particularly in communities and populations disproportionately impacted. Increased investment in surveillance, education, prevention, and care and treatment will ensure we continue to address HIV and viral hepatitis, including taking a syndemic approach to achieve maximum impact. The programs and funding increases detailed below are pivotal to our nation’s ability to end both HIV and hepatitis.
Testimony on FY 2023 appropriations for HIV and hepatitis programs
On behalf of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, we respectfully submit this testimony in support of increased funding for domestic HIV and hepatitis programs in the FY 2023 Labor, HHS spending bill. The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a leading HIV and hepatitis policy organization promoting quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions.