It is a pleasure to voice our strong support for Senate Bill 354-FN (“relative to insurance cost-sharing calculations”) which would require health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to include any amount paid by the enrollee or on their behalf in calculating an enrollee’s contribution to cost-sharing requirements. We thank you for holding a hearing on this important issue and ask that you consider and pass the bill.
We appreciate all you are doing to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for beneficiaries, including several proposals contained in the proposed rule. While we support several of them, this letter focuses on those issues that impact access and affordability of prescription drugs.
On behalf of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, we respectfully submit this testimony in support of H.1085/S.619: An Act to address barriers to HIV prevention medication. We need to ensure that everyone is able to benefit from the results of the latest scientific innovations in HIV prevention. We urge the passage of this important bill to ensure that all Bay Staters using commercial insurance can access PrEP without a financial barrier or delay.
In public comments to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute suggests ways that the federal government can improve PrEP uptake: 1) having CMS ensure that private insurers comply with ACA $0 cost-sharing requirements, 2) having the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention dedicate more funding for PrEP, and 3) having HRSA ensure that the community health centers PrEP program works effectively.