MOVE WILL REQUIRE INSURANCE COVER DRUG AT NO COST
The following is a statement from AIDS United Vice President for Policy and Advocacy on draft guidance released today by the U.S. Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF) giving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) an “A” grade for individuals at high risk of HIV acquisition:
Washington, DC – “AIDS United has long viewed pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as an essential prevention strategy, expanding available prevention options for the nearly 1.2 million people the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has estimated could benefit from its use. As one of the earliest national HIV organizations to call on the U.S. Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF) to review PrEP, we are extremely gratified by its newly released draft guidance that would provide PrEP with an ’A’ grade for people ‘at high risk of HIV acquisition.’
“While not yet final, these recommendations bode well for the future accessibility of PrEP and would ensure that insurance plans be required to cover the medication at no cost to anyone designated ‘high risk,’ including gay and bisexual men, people who inject drugs, heterosexual individuals in serodiscordant relationships, or persons with a recent sexually transmitted infection. We endorse the USPSTF’s grading of PrEP and look forward to working closely with it, the CDC, and other relevant Health and Human Services agencies to educate providers and eligible individuals of PrEP’s proven efficacy in preventing HIV.”
Contact: Kyle Murphy, 202-876-2820
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AIDS United’s mission is to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grantmaking, capacity building, formative research and policy. AIDS United works to ensure access to life-saving HIV/AIDS care and prevention services and to advance sound HIV/AIDS-related policy for U.S. populations and communities most impacted by the epidemic. To date, our strategic grantmaking initiatives have directly funded more than $104 million to local communities and have leveraged more than $117 million in additional investments for programs that include, but are not limited to HIV prevention, access to care, capacity building, harm reduction and advocacy. www.aidsunited.org.
