Proposed Texas Bill Would Fine Men $100 Every Time They Masturbate

Dubbed "the Man's Right to Know Act."

By Dennis Hinzmann

 

Mon, 2017-03-13

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Texas, thinking it’s the foremost authority on women’s reproductive rights, has a new bill before its state House of Representatives that dares the state to be as stringent with men and their sexual activity.

Democratic Rep. Jessica Farrar, tired of the one-sided debate on reproduction that solely targets and blames women, has proposed House Bill 4260, a bill “relating to the regulation of men’s health and safety.”  

HB 4260, dubbed “the Man’s Right to Know Act,” would fine men $100 for any instance of male masturbation, or, “emissions outside of a woman’s vagina.” If you’re having Legally Blonde flashbacks, it’s because similar language was used when Elle Woods cemented her spot as one of Callahan’s interns.

Photo via @GapToothB

If a man’s masturbatory emission wasn’t medically stored for potential future use, it would qualify as “an act against an unborn child, and failing to preserve the sanctity of life,” according to the bill. Yes, that’s the same type of language old white lawmakers use to impose restrictions on access to abortion, and, scientifically speaking, men abandon anywhere from 40 million to 1.2 billion potential children (sperm cells) per ejaculation.

 

The fetal remains bill imposes state-sponsored moral beliefs on women, affecting their ability to make personal decisions with their doctor.

— Jessica Farrar (@JFarrarDist148) March 8, 2017

#HB4260, “A Man’s Right to Know,” mirrors real TX laws and health care restrictions faced by TX women every #txlege session.

— Jessica Farrar (@JFarrarDist148) March 11, 2017

If this bill sounds like one big “do you see how ridiculous you sound” argument, that’s because it is. “There are inconsistencies in their [GOP lawmakers’] argument about the sanctity of life,” Farrar told Mic in a phone interview. “If this is really about the sanctity of life, semen is a really important piece to that formula and we can’t be can’t be wasting it, if that’s the case. It should be used for what it was meant to be used for and that is to create life.”

The bill mirrors the notorious “Woman’s Right to Know” bill further, including men submitting to “medically unnecessary” rectal exams and sonograms for men seeking Viagra prescriptions, colonoscopies, or vasectomies, along with a 24-hour waiting period after an initial inquiry before any procedure. Similar to Texas’ Senate Bill 25, under HB 4260 doctors can also “invoke their personal, moralistic or religious beliefs in refusing to perform an elective vasectomy or prescribe Viagra.” Yes, that’s the same morality clause that allows doctors to turn away women seeking abortions. Read the full Mic article here. 

Read more articles from OUT, here.

An 18 Percent Decline In U.S. HIV Incidence Over Six Years Is Not Enough

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy set forth in 2010 called for a 25 percent reduction in HIV incidence by 2015.

March 7, 2017 • By David Holtgrave and Robert Bonacci 

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On February 14, 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled new HIV incidence estimates for the United States from the years 2008 through 2014. Employing a recently developed method for estimating HIV incidence (based on diagnostic and CD4 cell level at time of diagnosis information), CDC provided the first official updates of HIV incidence estimates in several years.

This new methodology and updated estimates are very welcome and will better help address the epidemic in the United States, since timely incidence estimates (previous estimates were for the year 2010) are key to understanding the dynamics of the U.S. epidemic and are an essential component to any national statistical dashboard for up-to-date monitoring of the HIV epidemic. 

CDC reported that between 2008 and 2014, HIV incidence declined by 18 percent in the United States. However, several key disparities are apparent. In 2014, Southern states comprised about one-half of new HIV infections, and gay and bisexual men accounted for approximately 70 percent of new HIV infections. Additionally, incidence did not decline for Black gay and bisexual men over this time frame. Further, incidence increased among Latino gay and bisexual men and also increased among gay and bisexual men ages 25 to 34. 

While the overall 18 percent decline from 2008 to 2014 is welcome news, we must not celebrate too quickly. In order to understand the magnitude and meaning of an 18 percent decline in any public health metric, we must compare it to previously set national goals. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) set forth by President Obama’s administration in 2010 called for a 25 percent reduction in HIV incidence by 2015. Did we make it?

CDC estimates that HIV incidence in 2010 was 41,600; in 2014 it was 37,600. This decline of approximately 4,000 new HIV infections through 2014 reflects a roughly 9.6 percent drop; less than halfway to the national goal of 25 percent reduction by 2015 (though future updates from CDC for HIV incidence in 2015 will be important to monitor in this regard).

This 9.6 percent drop from 2010 through 2014 is similar to a 9.1 percent estimate we published last year using a somewhat different methodology; in our previous paper, we modeled incidence for 2015 as well and estimated that from 2010 through 2015, HIV incidence in the United States is likely to have dropped roughly 11.1 percent. 

Both our previous modeling efforts and CDC’s new HIV incidence estimates suggest that from 2010 through 2015, HIV incidence declined in the United States, but made it not even halfway to the 25 percent reduction goal. This important point alerts us to the fact that HIV prevention, care and supportive housing efforts in the United States are still not at the scale necessary to meet the original NHAS goals.

At a time when some decision makers are considering possibly repealing and/or replacing the Affordable Care Act, which we know provided critical health insurance access for persons living with HIV and helped to avoid HIV transmission, we should instead be focusing as a nation on expanding critical HIV-related services and access to comprehensive care. The NHAS provides a clear roadmap in this regard. 

Further, the health disparities, especially for gay and bisexual men of color and gay and bisexual men in young adulthood, are clearly unacceptable and must be addressed with culturally relevant, evidence-based, comprehensive wellness services that address HIV and health in a holistic manner.

The same is true for the disparities seen in the Southern United States; this unequal geographic impact of the epidemic, which is mirrored by the burden of other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, has been known for far too long for such disparities to continue to exist.

These inequities challenge us to once again recommit ourselves to addressing critical social determinants of public health, such as stable housing, food security, affordable health care, and non-stigmatizing health care delivery systems (among other key social determinants). 

We believe that it is important to continue to keep our eyes squarely on well-articulated national HIV-related goals, and to make the requisite financial and resource investments to scale up evidence-based prevention and care services to reach the goals.

With 2015 in the rearview mirror, we argued last summer in this forum that by 2020, HIV incidence could decline to 23,000 if 90 percent of persons living with HIV were diagnosed, 90 percent of diagnosed persons were linked to and retained in quality care services, and 90 percent of persons in care achieved viral suppression, goals consistent with the updated NHAS. While the nation is inching closer to 90 percent awareness that one is living with HIV, we have much work to do to achieve the retention in quality care and viral suppression goals. 

That more work remains should not hinder our cause, but instead motivate us to strive for such milestones. As President Obama said when he released the first NHAS in July 2010 at the White House, “The question is not whether we know what to do, but whether we will do it.” For our communities most heavily and disproportionately impacted by HIV and for all our loved ones whose lives have been lost to HIV, we say that we must do it.

David Holtgrave, PhD, is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and chair of the department of health, behavior and society. Robert Bonacci, MD, MPH, is a resident physician of the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The views stated in this post are those of the authors and do not necessarily express the position or views of their employers. This article was originally published on The Huffington Post.

Read more articles from POZ, here.

Trump’s Pick to Lead the FDA Wants Faster Drug Approvals and Lower Costs

Scott Gottlieb, MD
Courtesy of AEI

But do Scott Gottlieb’s interests lie with drugmakers or patients?

March 13, 2017

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President Trump picked Scott Gottlieb, MD, to run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reports Bloomberg. The Senate will have to confirm him.

Gottlieb is a more mainstream choice compared with other names floated earlier this year, and he is the preferred choice of the drug industry.

In past speeches, Gottlieb, who held senior positions in the FDA under George W. Bush, has expressed his desire to speed up the drug approval process and lower the costs of meds by easing up on regulations. He has also spoken about changing the rules regarding generic drugs as a way to make more of them available faster and cheaper.

“Throughout his career, including his time at the agency, Scott has shown that he has the skills necessary to continue to lead the FDA to be patient-centered and science-focused,” Ellen Sigal, founder and chair of Friends of Cancer Research, which focuses on speeding up the approval of promising drugs, told Bloomberg.

But the watchdog group Public Citizen called Gottlieb’s approach to the approval process “dangerous,” adding that from 2013 to 2015, he received about $413,000 in speaking fees from drug manufacturers. “Gottlieb’s appointment would accelerate a decades-long trend in which agency leadership too often makes decisions that are aligned more with the interests of industry than those of patients,” Public Citizen said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

Gottlieb is a partner at one of the world’s largest venture capital firms, New Enterprise Associates, which has a portfolio of more than 300 businesses in the technology and health-care industries.

Currently, he is also a fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute.

For related POZ articles, read “Trump’s Pick for Health Secretary Has Shown ‘Allegiance to Corporate Interests’” and “Trump’s Assumed FDA Pick Has a Controversial View on Drug Approvals (He’s Also Interested in Immortality).

Read more articles from POZ, here.

  

Waiting for Test Result? Here's How to Cope

Waiting for your HIV test results can be torture, here are some tips to help you cope.

By Gary McClain, Ph.D.

 

March 13 2017

 

 

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A client I’ll call Dawn talked to me about some test results she was waiting for. Here’s what she said:  “The results are going to show whether my current regimen is working for me or not. If not, we are back to square one and that’s going to have a big impact on my life. Now I know this isn’t life and death but some days it feels like it. All the uncertainty. What can I do to get through the next seven days?” 

I hear this often from clients who are awaiting test results. An HIV test. A quarterly check-up. The results of a new regimen. Here’s what clients in Dawn’s situation often experience:  Worrying. As Dawn said, all the uncertainty. It leaves you with an achy feeling that kind of hangs over you like a dark cloud. 
        

• Creating stories. Without adequate information, our mind fills in the gaps. Usually with one “what if” after another, each conjuring up another version of the worst possible scenario. 

• Stressing out. Yes, that’s where all that worry and story creation takes you. And stress makes it that much harder to cope. It’s a vicious cycle. 

You Can’t Control the Test Results, But You Can Do Something About the Worrying

Waiting on test results doesn’t have to leave you feeling like you’re walking down a tunnel that may or may not have a light at the end. Here’s how: 

1. Don’t fight the worry. Human beings don’t do very well with uncertainty. It’s totally normal to feel anxious. Especially when the results, depending on how they go, may lead to big changes, or to more uncertainty.

2. But be careful about those stories. The stories your mind makes up for you just fuel more worry. Unfortunately, they pop up out of nowhere, and you can find yourself in the midst of a disaster movie with you as the star. Your mind may even tell you that if you imagine the worst possible result, you won’t be disappointed if it happens.  

3. Be mindful. When a story sneaks up on you, call it out for what it is, and let it go. The worst thing you can do with those scary stories is to indulge them.

4. Use some self-talk. Or better yet, a lot of self-talk. Remind yourself that you don’t have any information. So the stories are just that. And a waste of time. 

5. Review your foundation. Regardless of what your test results are, you are not out on a limb. Take stock of the resources you can call upon if needed. These might include a supportive family and friends and competent healthcare professionals. Along with your own ability to face difficult situations and make informed decisions. Been down this road before? What helped you cope the last time around? 

6. Stay involved in your life. It may be tempting to isolate yourself, to shut down and let yourself ruminate about the future. But try to resist that temptation. Instead, use positive distractions, things you enjoy, responsibilities you have taken on, things you might do to promote your emotional and physical wellness. Embracing your daily life can be empowering! 

7. Get support. From the beginning of your wait until the minute you walk in to your doctor’s office, stay connected to your support network. Talk it out. Vent. Expose your deepest and darkest fears to the light of day. You might want to let people know you aren’t looking for advice or for them to “fix” you. You just need a listening ear. You might even want to ask someone to accompany you to your appointment to support you. Don’t hesitate to be high maintenance! 

8. Be with your Higher Power. If you are involved in religious or spiritual practices, this can be a good time to reach out – up – to your Higher Power. Focus on the larger meaning beyond what you’re currently experiencing in life.

9. As the day for your results gets closer, take extra good care of yourself. Even baby yourself a little. Do something that relaxes you. Have a laugh with a friend. Enjoy a fun evening with your family. Make your peace of mind a priority.  

10. You and your test results. You won’t know until you know. Sure, waiting can be agonizing. And your anxious mind can be hard to tame. But you can get through this: Harness your inner resources. Get support. Stay connected with what’s important in your life. 

Gary McClain, PhD, is a therapist, patient advocate, and author in New York City, who specializes in working with individuals diagnosed with chronic and catastrophic medical conditions, their caregivers, and professionals.  He maintains a website, www.JustGotDiagnosed.com.  

Read more articles from PLUS, here.
 

LGBT and People Living with HIV Need To Take Charge in Healthcare Debate

Access to health care under ACA has brought huge benefits to those at risk of and living with HIV.

By Tim Wang and Sean Cahill

 

March 13 2017

 

 

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The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has resulted in 20 million Americans gaining access to health insurance who were previously unable to obtain it because they either could not afford it or were denied coverage due to a preexisting condition. This has significantly benefited all Americans. The rate of uninsurance among White Americans, for example, was nearly cut in half, from 12 percent in 2013, when key provisions of the ACA kicked in, down to 7 percent in 2015. But people living with HIV (PLWH) have benefitted in particular ways from the ACA, as have those who belong to traditionally underinsured populations that are disproportionately burdened by HIV and other health disparities: Black people and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Regular readers of Plus are  probably already familiar with the disproportionate burden of HIV on Black Americans, who comprise about half of new HIV infections each year in the U.S., about four times their share of the population. Unfortunately, Black people experience a wide array of other health disparities as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found that Black people who died from HIV, stroke, perinatal diseases, homicide and diabetes had substantially more years of potential life lost than White people who died of the same causes. Black people experience higher prevalence of certain cancers and higher rates of hypertension than their White counterparts. In 2015, the CDC found that the average Black American male lived five years less than the average White American male. These shocking and shameful health and life expectancy disparities are in large part due to lower rates of health insurance (19 percent of Blacks were uninsured in 2013 compared to 12 percent of Whites) and lower access to health care among Black people compared to White people. 

 

LGBT people also experience a wide array of disparities in health outcomes compared to their heterosexual peers. For example, gay and bisexual men represent two-thirds of new HIV infections in the United States, with Black and Latino men who have sex with men experiencing the highest HIV burden among all sub-populations. Lesbian and bisexual women are less likely to receive preventive cancer screenings, and have higher rates of obesity. Transgender people, especially transgender women of color, are disproportionately burdened by high rates of HIV and other STIs, in addition to high rates of victimization and mental health issues, including suicidality.
Prior to the ACA, people living with HIV (PLWH) were often denied insurance coverage for having a preexisting condition. If they were able to gain access to health insurance coverage, they were often met with high premiums or prohibitive annual or lifetime spending caps. Many PLWH were often unable to qualify for Medicaid despite being low-income because they were not also pregnant or disabled.

There were several key provisions of the ACA that helped to expand access to health insurance for PLWH. First, the ACA required insurance providers to cover anyone who applies at comparable rates, regardless of preexisting conditions, including HIV. The ACA also put an end to lifetime or annual spending caps for insurance coverage, which is especially helpful for those with chronic preexisting health conditions like HIV, which require consistent medical treatment throughout an individual’s lifetime.

The ACA also expanded coverage of PLWH by expanding eligibility criteria for Medicaid, which is a health insurance program for low-income children, pregnant women, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities. States currently have the option to expand Medicaid eligibility so that individuals earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) qualify for Medicaid health insurance based on income alone. Prior to the ACA, an individual had to be extremely poor and also either have dependent children or be disabled to qualify for Medicaid. For PLWH, being disabled meant having an AIDS diagnosis. This created a “Catch-22” situation for many PLWH who were advised to start treatment as soon as possible to prevent onset of AIDS, but who also could not qualify for Medicaid to help cover the drugs until they had an AIDS diagnosis. This disproportionately affects Black Americans living with HIV, who are overrepresented in states where Medicaid eligibility has not expanded. This includes nearly all of the Southern states.

As a result of the ACA, insurance coverage for PLWH, Black people, and LGBT people all rose. The CDC and the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the percentage of PLWH who lacked any kind of health insurance coverage was 22 percent in 2012 and dropped to 15 percent in 2014, following implementation of key elements of health care reform. The percentage of PLWH on Medicaid increased from 36 percent in 2012 to 42 percent in 2014.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that among Black individuals, the uninsurance rate declined from 19 percent in 2013 to 11 percent in 2015. While there is no direct evidence yet of the ACA’s impact on HIV mortality, there have been studies that have shown the impact of Medicaid expansion on HIV-related deaths. One study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that in three states that expanded Medicaid prior to the ACA, mortality declined by 20 deaths per 100,000 people as a result of expanded insurance coverage, and 20 percent of that decline was from a reduction in HIV-related deaths.

Between mid-2013 and early 2015, the percentage of LGB adults without health insurance decreased from 22 percent to 11 percent, which is a larger decrease than in the non-LGB adult population. These are all huge accomplishments that should help reduce disparities affecting Black Americans, PLWH, and/or LGBT people.

The ACA has dramatically expanded health insurance coverage and access to health care for vulnerable populations in the U.S. Key provisions of the ACA, including eliminating the ban on preexisting condition discrimination and lifetime spending caps, as well as expanding Medicaid eligibility all helped to increase access to health insurance coverage for these vulnerable populations. In order to reduce and eliminate the health disparities experienced by PLWH, LGBT people, and Black people, it is critical that these provisions remain intact as the federal government revises our national health care policies.

Tim Wang, MPH, is LGBT Health Policy Analyst for The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. Sean Cahill, PhD, is Director of Health Policy Research for The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. They are co-authors of the recently published policy brief, Essential Elements of a Revised National Health Care Policy for LGBT People and People Living with HIV.
 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.

MY RANT about DOCTORS and MY HEALTH

KNOW your DOCTOR but even more so KNOW YOUR OWN BODY 

🏳️‍🌈✝️Rainbow Pastor David🏳️‍🌈✝️

3/11/2017 

 

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A really good friend of mine, Amy whom I went to high school with recently posted on Facebook something that really struck a chord with me. Although, it was not positive it was not so negative either. To her point, coming from an RN who supports doctors, I understand the point she was making about NOT trusting CELEBRITIES, WebMD, etc.. and to TRUST the DOCTOR you go to on a REGULAR BASIS with your DIAGNOSES and CARE.

"It's so unfortunate that people would rather believe a celebrity they have never seen and whom they do not know regarding their health conditions than their physician. What's even worse is that people routinely believe that their physician is intentionally lying to them to keep them sick. There may be a few sick, evil bastards out there, but the vast majority of docs are there to help. I wish they would trust the person they see every 3 months more, and WebMD and Jenny McCarthy less.", wrote Amy.

 

 

I absolutely agree with Amy that KNOW ONE should believe TV PERSONALITIES or Internet Web sites. WebMD and others like it are only there as tools to help you better understand your body and symptoms so you can better describe to your DOCTOR what is going on when you visit them. 

At times, I wish my Doctors would QUIT playing around and find out why my blood pressure is going through the roof and my chest hurts. Instead of oh lets try this medicine, oh lets cut you down to almost nothing for your blood pressure because after all you are only having muscle spasms, even though you have been taking medicine for muscle spasms daily for 4 years now. 

REALLY, SOME DOCTORS are just so OLD it seems they do NOT CARE or even know how to treat a patient ANYMORE. 

I saw an OLDER ENT Doctor on the 7th of this month, that told me I did NOT need my HIV MEDICATION because my CD4 count is 3000 and I am UNDETECTABLE!!! He said people actually get cured after being on the medicine. Needless to say at that point in the conversation I was done listening to the man and ready to leave because I was there for fluid behind my ear and he wanted to tell me I was on too much medication and I was too fat. We actually spent 40 minutes listening to a bad comedy routine and 5 minutes of the doctor saying your ears are clean, there is fluid behind the right {which is why I was there} and that I needed to come back for close to $2000 worth of test that my insurance may or may not cover and I needed to call them to find out. 

NEVER GOING BACK just in case you wondering.  My step dad was so UNIMPRESSED he called and CANCELED his appointment the next day with this doctor.

I have been to the ER for my BP 2 times in a month, been through every test for your heart and told there is NOTHING WRONG with me!!! So my BP going up to 185/103 every night and chest pain is because I have muscle spasms??? I have LOST a lot of HOPE in DOCTORS this YEAR!!! 

Love you AMY and I would NEVER listen to CELEBRITIES buy these DOCTORS are PLAYING GOD with my life and I am dying. 

Thank GOD I have a great PRIMARY CARE DOCTOR who is trying to help me. At this point the DEPRESSION and ANXIETY from IGNORANT DOCTORS has almost caused me to completely GIVE UP ON LIFE!!! I guess its a good thing I am ready for GOD to take me home any time now because at this rate I will have a heart attack and die before they figure out which medication to put me on this next time.

God knows I am a Pharmaceutical Drug ADDICT thanks to all the DOCTORS and their HORRIFIC DRUGS they have me on. At this point I would just rather quit them all and let whatever happens happen because they are just making me worse. Kidneys are getting weaker because of the meds, heart has blockages inside the heart that ARE NO BIG DEAL because they are only 50% blocked but Cardiologist took me off the aspirin, off the Plavix he just put me on the week before and wants to cut my BP medicine in half, BECAUSE ALL THE TESTS SAY THEIR IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!!! And that of course is after the EKG shows irregular heart beats and so does my expensive BP machine at home. I document everything for him and he doesn't want to look at it because he only believes what he sees while I am in the office. So why then does he make me keep track of it at home for him? 

My PCP says  I kind of weird because I can feel my BP going up. When my BP is going up, my chest starts hurting, I start sweating, I get nauseated and sometimes a head ache. I feel my BP bottom out and my heart rate sinks to 39 but there is NOTHING wrong with me according to the DOCTOR!!! This has been going on now for almost 5 months and over $100K in tests only to be told there is NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!?!

Oh not to forget the new HIV DOCTOR that wants ALL her patients on the NEWEST DRUG and is PISSED OFF at me because my other DOCTORS refuse to take me off the meds they have me on so I can go on that NEW MEDICATION that INTERACTS with EVERY OTHER DRUG I AM ON NOW!!! 

At this time I just want to let everyone know that it is VERY IMPORTANT that you KEEP LOTS of NOTES about your health. Make charts to chart BP and MEDICATIONS. Excel is a great program for that. I could send you a template if you need one, just hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.

Remember IT IS YOUR BODY and ONLY YOU KNOW HOW YOU FEEL. DOCTORS PRACTICE MEDICINE and can only help you if you KNOW whats going on and can give them AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE.

That being said, NEVER FEEL BAD if you have to FIRE A DOCTOR who REFUSES to LISTEN TO YOU!!! YOU PAY THEM NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. IF you DO NOT TRUST your DOCTOR then CHANGE DOCTORS IMMEDIATELY!!!

To all my HIV/AIDS friends and family, REMEMBER TO FIND DOCTORS who will WORK WITH YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR MEDICAL TEAM for YOUR BEST INTEREST!!!

I want to give a big shout out to my GREAT FRIEND AMY who inspired this RANT, LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!!

Blessings and Peace,

🏳️‍🌈✝️Rainbow Pastor David🏳️‍🌈✝️ 

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Republicans Want to Take Away Your PrEP

The once-a-day pill has reduced HIV diagnoses in the U.S. by 20 percent, but the GOP doesn't seem to consider that a fact. It's time to get worried. 

By David Artavia

 

March 10 2017

 

 

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Thanks to prevention strategies like PrEP, new cases of HIV transmissions have plummeted tremendously. In fact, annual HIV transmissions dropped nearly 20 percent between 2008 and 2014 in the United States alone. Before that, rates were stagnate for almost twenty years. 

A normal person might look at these numbers and know without a doubt that PrEP is changing the course of HIV rates in not only the U.S., but the world. You might look at the data and realize that this once-a-day pill is stalling the progression of a plague that otherwise would have seen the death of countless others, and in another few decades, hopefully see a drastic reduction in the number of people living with the virus. Maybe one day, that number could be zero.  

So why, then, do Republicans want to take it away? 

House Republicans released a highly anticipated blueprint of what they’re hoping will replace the Affordable Care Act. In it, it’s confirmed their plan is to eliminate Medicaid expansion as well as other highlights in what many call “Obamacare.” One of the consequences? A major roadblock in the access to PrEP. 

The plan will make it particularly difficult for low-income Americans in the 31 states (plus Washington D.C.) that adopted the Medicaid expansion. As Time points out, if the new bill passes in its current form, traditional Medicaid will be replaced by per-capita grants, which is a fixed-sum per person that will likely have cuts over time. 

Additionally, the bill wants to repeal ACA’s cost-sharing assistance, which is a system based on a person's income that paid insurers an amount to help with their monthly fees. If that happened, coverage will be too expensive for poor people to handle, thus leading to more uninsured Americans living areas that need it most.

While Truvada does offer co-pay assistance through a self-funded program, it’s still unclear how it will be impacted by the proposed ACA repeal. Without easy and affordable access to PrEP, HIV-negative partners in serodiscordant relationships are at a higher risk for contracting the virus. The same can be said for anyone living in high risk counties or participate in high risk activities, like barrier free sex or injection drug use. 

The Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada as PrEP in 2012, and according to data from Gilead, 80,000 people started the strategy between 2012 and 2015, which is a drop in the Atlantic when compared to the over one million Americans the Center for Disease Control and Prevention define as “good candidates” for PrEP. (Click HERE to use a PrEP Calculator and see if PrEP is right for you!) 

Seeing that PrEP is one of the strongest prevention strategies we have today, the harder it is to access, the harder it will be to lessen HIV rates to zero. Whether we see the effects directly or not, a 20 percent drop in HIV rates in only six years speaks for itself. 

Read more articles from PLUS, here.