Kamala Harris Introducing Bill to Mandate PrEP Coverage

[Melech 9,900]

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is introducing a bill to guarantee insurance coverage of drugs used in pre-exposure prophylaxis, a strategy to prevent transmission of HIV, she announced today.

“PrEP is a critical advancement in the fight against HIV that can finally provide peace of mind to Americans who live in the shadow of the HIV epidemic,” Harris, a California Democrat and presidential hopeful, said in a statement provided to The Advocate. “But for too many in our country, lack of insurance coverage and exorbitant costs have put PrEP out of reach — and that needs to change,” said Harris. “We must truly commit ourselves to HIV prevention by finally requiring every health insurance plan — public and private — to cover PrEP and all of the required tests and follow-up doctors’ visits. We must also provide the resources necessary to help people without insurance access PrEP. Nearly four decades since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis that took so many lives and caused countless others to live in fear, we can and will stop the spread of this disease.”

Truvada, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, is the only drug approved so far by the Food and Drug Administration for use as PrEP; the FDA OK’d it for this use in 2012. If taken daily as directed, it reduces the risk of acquiring the virus from a sexual partner by more than 90 percent, especially when used in conjunction with condoms. But the drug has a high list price — more than $20,000 a year, although a cheaper, generic version is being developed. And users must be tested every three months to assure they remain uninfected, because if someone who is HIV-positive takes Truvada by itself, it can make the virus harder to treat. Truvada is used for HIV treatment, but only in combination with other drugs.

Harris’s PrEP Access and Coverage Act, if it becomes law, will guarantee insurance coverage for PrEP and create a grant program to fund uninsured patients’ access to it. A fact sheet from her office says the bill will:

• Require all public and private health insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, to cover drugs used for PrEP—as well as all required tests and follow-up visits — without a copay, just as the Affordable Care Act requires insurance to cover contraception.

• Fund a grant program to assist states, territories, and tribal communities in facilitating access to PrEP for people who lack insurance. The bill authorizes grants to cover the cost of the drug, as well as all associated tests and follow-up visits.

• Prohibit companies selling life insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance from denying coverage to customers who take PrEP or charging them higher premiums.

• Fund a public education campaign to reduce disparities in access to and use of PrEP by educating the public — particularly high-need communities in which PrEP is underutilized — about its safety and efficacy, and to combat stigma associated with using PrEP.

 

Many people at high risk of becoming infected with HIV have not taken advantage of PrEP, due primarily to the cost of Truvada and the stigma associated with using PrEP. “Of the more than 1 million Americans who could benefit from PrEP, only 7 percent — 78,360 individuals — filled prescriptions in 2016,” according to Harris’s fact sheet. “In particular, people of color and women have underutilized PrEP. In 2015, while approximately 500,000 Black individuals and 300,000 Latinx individuals could have potentially benefited from PrEP, only 7,000 Black individuals and 7,600 Latinx individuals received prescriptions.”

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.advocate.com/health/2019/6/20/sen-kamala-harris-introducing-bill-mandate-prep-coverage%3famp

 

queen

[Antoni 5,332]

This is the first "I will _____ for the American people" that is actually guaranteed achievable.

Trump: I will build the wall.

Biden: I will cure cancer.

Bernie: I will erase student loan debt. (Not impossible, but not as easy as Kamala's proposal).

[Born To Slay 10,996]

3 minutes ago, Timmers said:

This is the first "I will _____ for the American people" that is actually guaranteed achievable.

Trump: I will build the wall.

Biden: I will cure cancer.

Bernie: I will erase student loan debt. (Not impossible, but not as easy as Kamala's proposal).

Bernie’s proposal is pretty straight forward, as is Elizabeth’s, to achieving that goal. That’s hardly fair. 

[Delusional Aura 5,129]

Yea....am cancelling student loans is more important than worrying about people who are irresponsible with sex. Can't afford protection then guess what, don't have sex. 

[Antoni 5,332]

4 minutes ago, Born To Slay said:

Bernie’s proposal is pretty straight forward, as is Elizabeth’s, to achieving that goal. That’s hardly fair. 

Congress won't have as much reason to fight against Kamala's plan as the progressive plan. And I'm saying this as a progressive myself. I'd vote Bernie or Elizabeth before anyone else. I'm just viewing all of these promises objectively.

[River 128,515]

PrEP is the worst thing that could have happen, it made people carefree and careless about safe sex, free PrEP for all will do more damage than actually make good.

[Melech 9,900]

1 minute ago, River said:

PrEP is the worst thing that could have happen, it made people carefree and careless about safe sex, free PrEP for all will do more damage than actually make good.

Prep is safe sex. 

[Othon 34,299]

Mandating that private insurers cover PrEP prescriptions does nothing for the millions of people that are too poor to afford health insurance, and a grant program doesn't solve that problem. Just perpetuates the two-tiered healthcare system we're already suffering under.

So, we're left with a severely limited proposal that does nothing to mitigate her entire professional history as a particularly cruel prosecutor, DA and AG so... no. No interest in her. Definitely not a "queen" for introducing a compromised bill aimed at getting more affluent gay men that can afford insurance on board with her campaign. The parents of truant children that went to jail under the program she implemented as DA and the (mostly) black men that she willingly chose to prosecute for marijuana possession would probably also object to calling her a "queen." 

[imnotyourbabe10 6,120]

I dunno about y’all but I’m still feeling the Bern! And having watched Warren’s Town Hall, she’s got the grit and talk. Bernie/Warren 2020!

OT: thank you Kamala!! 

[River 128,515]

1 minute ago, Melech said:

Prep is safe sex. 

as long as there are people who got HIV while using it, it's not really safe.

People still need to use condom!

[Othon 34,299]

41 minutes ago, River said:

PrEP is the worst thing that could have happen, it made people carefree and careless about safe sex, free PrEP for all will do more damage than actually make good.

This is completely ridiculous. PrEP is the best, most realistic protective measure we have against HIV and AIDS. People are going to have unprotected sex anyway; at least now they'll have a much greater chance of preventing the epidemic from spreading.

[Melech 9,900]

Just now, River said:

as long as there are people who got HIV while using it, it's not really safe.

People still need to use condom!

Condoms can fail as well. 

[Melech 9,900]

1 minute ago, OG Gaga Stan said:

This is completely ridiculous. PrEP is the best, most realistic protective measure we have against HIV and AIDS. People are going to have unprotected sex anyway; at least now they'll have a must greater chance of preventing the epidemic from spreading.

For once we are on the same page  

[River 128,515]

Just now, OG Gaga Stan said:

This is completely ridiculous. PrEP is the best, most realistic protective measure we have against HIV and AIDS. People are going to have unprotected sex anyway; at least now they'll have a must greater chance of preventing the epidemic from spreading.

The problem is that some people still got HIV from it and also STDs are spreading like hell because people stopped to use condoms because of PrEP, it is good but the lack of education led to people stop using condoms and forget about other STDs..

[Othon 34,299]

1 minute ago, River said:

as long as there are people who got HIV while using it, it's not really safe.

People still need to use condom!

It has a 99% success rate. No drug guarantees a 100% prevention rate against any virus. Yes, people should still be having safe sex, but having that security would've saved tens of thousands of us (maybe hundreds of thousands of us) that died in the 90s and could be a godsend for those currently affected by the epidemic (queer people and poor black communities).