We are deeply concerned by the Senate’s continuing efforts to take away life-sustaining health care coverage and protections from millions of people who desperately need them. All of the iterations of this legislation threaten the health and well-being of people living with and affected by HIV and other STDs at a time when our nation is making important progress to end the epidemic and STDs are at a 20 year high.
We urge Congress and President Trump to cease these efforts and work, in a bipartisan way, to improve, not tear down, our current system of coverage and care. All Americans – not just the most well off – have a right to affordable, high-quality care. We must work together to make that happen.
If enacted, all of the versions of so-called reform now pending in the Senate would be devastating and cost more while covering fewer people. Premiums for those with insurance will rise dramatically, vital consumer protections will be wiped away, and Medicaid – which provides coverage to 42 percent of all Americans living with HIV who are in care – will be decimated.
Senators have a clear choice to make. Vote to take away coverage, increase costs, and put people’s lives at risk or call a halt to these misguided attacks and come together to improve care and health. We call on Senators to follow the lead of their courageous colleagues who have voted to end this dangerous debate.
AIDS United (AU), NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NMAC, and The AIDS Institute (TAI) are national non-partisan, non-profit organizations focused on ending HIV in the U.S. They have been working in partnership to identify and share resources to sustain successes and progress we have made in HIV and STD prevention, care and treatment in the United States.