🏳️‍🌈✝️ Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicare Advantage taking away benefits for 2018

Rainbow Pastor David

12/30/2017

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Living with HIV and many other health conditions is not a walk in the park.

Being unwell and depending on programs that are suppose to help you stay healthy can actually be quite stressful at times.

Take Medicare Advantage Plans for example.

If you are unfortunate enough to only get an HMO PLAN because you are a slave to the system you find out that finding doctors can be very frustrating. Who can blame the doctors for NOT taking the HMO PLAN? Actually NO ONE can blame them because the HMO PLAN does not pay the doctor squat for taking care of you.

When I started looking for a new PCP it took several months of phone calls that ended in disappointment because they find out you have an HMO PLAN. Thank God I finally found one that takes the HMO PLAN and is actually working with me to get the help I need without all the SPECIALIST that cost a fortune to go to when you are on a limited income {SSDI}.

Thanks to this horrible Presidential Administration and the Republican Congress, the insurance companies can now take advantage of the POOR and SICK.

Starting in 2018 Oklahoma Medicare Advantage NO LONGER provides the measly $10 over the counter medical card. If that was not bad enough now they NO LONGER offer DENTAL.

What is this government going to do NEXT, 

take our insurance away completely!?!

It costs close to $150,000 a year in Medical and Prescriptions to keep me semi healthy with my health declining every year. I guess people like me DON'T MATTER and it would be best for this government to get rid of us. They might as well round us all up like the NAZI'S did the JEWS and CHRISTIANS and put us in gas chambers to exterminate us. Feels like that is what they are wanting to accomplish, without the "gas chamber" of course. Making it more and more difficult to get the healthcare needed to stay alive is an  easy way for them to get rid of us.

Those of us living with HIV are watching this government prove they want to get rid of us by doing away with essential programs that help STOP the STIGMA and programs to help pay for medical care. If this Republican Congress and  Vice President Mike Pence have their way they will eliminate said programs in 2018. Clearly the FIGHT to stay alive is still important to so many people. 

Depression and anxiety are a deadly combination which is getting harder and harder to keep at bay with all the life changes in health along with the government showing their true colors about getting rid of all of us who are not well.

God bless you all with peace and health in 2018 and beyond.

Rainbow Pastor David

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Trump fires his HIV/AIDS council without warning & won’t explain why he did it

Donald Trump and Mike Pence DonkeyHotey/Flickr

By Bil Browning  

December 29, 2017

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

Members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) were surprised to receive an envelope from FedEx yesterday. Inside was a short letter informing them they had been fired without warning from the council.

Six members of the council resigned in June to protest President Donald Trump‘s apathy towards the epidemic and his attempts to take health care access away from people living with HIV/AIDS.

The PACHA was created in 1995 during the Clinton administration to provide recommendations about the government’s response to the HIV epidemic. The Bush administration continued the council’s charter and during the Obama administration the council created and monitored the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Related: You won’t believe what Trump said for National HIV Testing Day

Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal, wrote in Newsweek why he and five of his colleagues decided to leave the PACHA. 

“The Trump Administration has no strategy to address the on-going [sic] HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, and—most concerning—pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease,” he said.

After the news broke that the remaining members had been fired, Schoettes fired off a response on Twitter, writing “No respect for their service. Dangerous that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed.”

Remaining #HIV/AIDS council members booted by @realDonaldTrump. No respect for their service. Dangerous that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed. #WeObject #PACHA6 #Resist

— Scott A. Schoettes (@PozAdvocate) December 28, 2017

Former council member Gabriel Maldonado, CEO of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS group Truevolution, confirmed the firing to the Washington Blade, saying the “explanation is still unclear.”

“I can only speculate,” Maldonado said.

Maldonado pointed to a recent news report that the Center for Disease Control had been banned from using words like “transgender,” “science-based,” “vulnerable” and “diversity.” The CDC director has denied those words are “banned” and said they were suggestions on how to get a project funded under the Trump administration.

“I was co-chair of the disparities committee, so much of my advocacy and policy references surrounded vulnerable populations, addressing issuing of diverse communities, specifically looking at the impacts of the LGBT community, namely, the disproportionate impact of HIV and AIDS to people of color, gay men, transgender women,” Maldonado told the Blade. “And a lot of those key vulnerable populations are not being prioritized in this administration.”

Related: Pence may be a lapdog, but he’s wagging Trump’s tail

Vice President Mike Pence, who has been running the administration behind the scenes as Trump continues his Twitter wars with the media, science, and fellow politicians, is vociferously anti-LGBT and has continuously shown resistance to combating HIV. He will likely be influential in picking replacements for the now-fired councilors.

The former Indiana governor refused to take action as an HIV epidemic swept through the southern portion of the state due to intravenous drug use. State and national authorities begged Pence to institute a needle exchange program and eventually Pence reluctantly agreed to “test” the program after national outcry.

As part of his first congressional campaign in 2000, Pence argued for public funding of “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ people in exchange for reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act.

Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”

Experts and now-former members of the council expect new representatives appointed by Trump/Pence to focus on failed abstinence-only programs while ignoring the communities most affected by the virus – people of color and LGBT people.


More from LGBTQ Nation, here
 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Switching Integrase Inhibitor–Based HIV Regimen for Atripla Tied to Weight Gain

More research is needed to determine the metabolic implications of this apparent association and how it may drive diabetes.

October 16, 2017


____________________________________________________________________________________ 

  

"I personally gained 50lbs in 4 months when switching from Atripla to Triumeq. I have switched back to Atripla and have been struggling with weight for 3 years now. I am now also a diabetic because of this mess. The Infectious Disease Doctor I had at that time told me it was NOT the medication, it was the way I was eating. She said NO ONE ELSE had gained weight and there was NO scientific evidence of it causing weight gain, even though the insert and information I found online said weight gain was a possible side effect. Of course I told her NOT to compare me to other people in the clinic because I was an individual with a different metabolism than the other people and I was NOT just a NUMBER.  I have to force myself to eat most days because I have NO appetite from all the mediation I take, on top of the fact that I drink water and green tea all day that curbs my appetite. I ended up switching to a NEW HIV SPECIALIST because I was NOT getting anywhere with the one I was with, she thought she was the god of HIV and refused to listen to any of the research studies I found on HIV." Rainbow Pastor David

People with HIV who switch from taking Atripla (efavirenz/tenofovir/emtricitabine) to an antiretroviral regimen based on an integrase inhibitor gained more weight than those who stayed on Atripla in a recent study, the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project reports.

Presenting their findings at the IDWeek 2017 conference in San Diego, researchers conducted a study of HIV-positive individuals who prior to the study had been taking Atripla for at least two years and who maintained a viral load of 1,000 or below during that time as well as for at least 18 months after the beginning of the study.

The study’s analysis included data on 136 people who switched to an integrase inhibitor–based regimen, 34 who switched to a protease inhibitor–based regimen, and 325 who stayed on Atripla. Among these three groups, a respective 14 percent, 29 percent and 14 percent were women, and the respective median weight before the study started was 182 pounds, 165 pounds and 177 pounds. The median age in all three groups was about 39. The median CD4 count at the study’s outset for all participants was above 500, indicating good overall immune health.

After 18 months, those who switched to an integrase inhibitor–based regimen gained an average 6.38 pounds versus 1.98 pounds among those who stayed on Atripla. There was no statistically significant difference between the average weight gained on a protease inhibitor–based regimen (1.54 pounds) compared with that gained on Atripla, meaning any apparent difference on that count may have been driven by chance.

Those who switched to the integrase inhibitor–based Triumeq (dolutegravir/abacavir/lamivudine) gained more weight (11.66 pounds) than those who switched to regimens based on the integrase inhibitors Isentress (raltegravir) or Vitekta (elvitegravir) (6.16 pounds), but this difference was not statistically significant, meaning it could have been driven by chance.

Those who switched to an integrase inhibitor–based regimen saw their average hemoglobin A1c, a marker for diabetes, rise from an average 6.4 percent to 6.5 percent. However, this shift was also not statistically significant.

More from POZ, here

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Recently Diagnosed - Being Mistreated?

Question and answer at The Body

Dr. David Fawcett 

__________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

Bipolar, newly diagnosed, stigma 

Jul 2, 2017

 

I was diagnosed with bipolar 16 years ago. Over the years I've learned to deal with the stigma surrounding this serious mental illness. I've had some discrimination in the workplace and am always torn with telling them the reason for my frequent appointments. Outside of work (where I live very openly) I mostly find support. 

I was just diagnosed HIV+ 2 days ago. I shared the new diagnosis with my chiropractor today. I felt treated differently. I had to see a new doctor in my new primary care clinic (my insurance changed). I felt like he rushed the the visit, not properly treating my concerns. When I read the plan notes, there were a lot of things that they said he did that were not done (discussing diet and exercise for example). 

Tonight I've had a number of health things going on today and had to go to the ER for evaluation. When they were checking me in (both at registration and triage) they seemed to be taking extra precautions (hand sanitizer, a biohazard bag for my urine sample, etc). From the research I've done in the last few days, I know that nothing that they have done puts them at any risk. 

Do they not understand that treating me differently than they do other patients is damaging? I would expect medical professionals to know the risk factors and treat patients with maybe a little extra compassion. 

Perhaps I'm just super sensitive right now. I was infected by a partner who knew for more than 4 years he was positive and did not disclose. Yes, I chose to take risks but never did I dream that I would be sitting here, facing a life of dealing with two of our societies worst stigmas (mental health and HIV). 

Response from Dr. Fawcett

 Thank you for writing. I'm sorry to hear about your recent HIV diagnosis simply because of the additional stress it creates for you. Stress, as you know, can aggravate your bipolar symptoms, although having been diagnosed over 16 years ago you seem to have managed your symptoms very well.

Although HIV is a manageable diagnosis it still comes as a shock (for some even a trauma). At just 2 days post-diagnosis you are most certainly still in shock so I encourage you to take extra precautions with your rest and other aspects of self-care, including being sensitive to mood swings. 

You are no doubt acutely aware of stigma right now, and it certainly still exists, so it is important that you find providers who are supportive of you and who understand what is risky (and what is not) concerning HIV. You don't mention where you are but in most urban areas one can find high quality and informed HIV care. 

You and your primary care (or infectious disease) specialists need to be collaborators as you determine the best course of care. Many clinics are rushed. Find one where this is minimal and, in any case, make a list of your concerns to bring with you into the appointment so that it is focused. 

You should find a case manager at a local AIDS service organization that can help you locate providers and schedule services like those listed in your treatment plan. Medical providers often simply don't have the time to do this. 

Finally, it is extremely important that you find a social network that can provide the support you need. This may include close friends, facilitated support groups, a psychotherapist, and a psychiatrist. 

Being diagnosed and engaged in care early has great benefits. You simply need to employ the skills you already have to managing HIV. 

All the best,
David
  
More from The Body, here  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Some Missourians With HIV to Lose Health Insurance January 1

So it begins... Thanks to this horrible President @realDonaldTrump and the REPUBLICAN GOP who had to have their TAX CUTS for themselves and all their rich friends. 

This is the first state to claim that it’s now cheaper to provide only the HIV meds instead of comprehensive health coverage.

December 21, 2017


___________________________________________________________________________________  

Nearly 100 Missourians living with HIV and receiving care through federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS funding will lose their health insurance coverage in the New Year, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

That’s because, according to the state, the available insurance plans are not cost-effective. This does not mean these individuals will have to go without HIV meds. Instead, Missouri will use the federal funds to purchase just their medications and not comprehensive health care.

The change takes effect January 1 and impacts people in 51 counties across the state, notably folks living in rural areas where there is little to no competition among insurance providers. For example, in many counties, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only company that offers coverage, and it places HIV meds in its most expensive tier.

“One of the biggest challenges in health care is the rising cost of specialty drugs,” Anthem said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch. “Next year, Anthem will pay more than half of all money spent to cover members’ prescription drugs on high-cost specialty drugs. As a result, many specialty drugs, like HIV drugs, are on higher tiers and require coinsurance.” (The triggering of coinsurance means a patient pays a percentage of the total cost of the drug instead of paying a flat fee like a copay.)

According to the newspaper, Missouri is the first state to say it is now cheaper to scrap comprehensive insurance in favor of covering only HIV meds.

More from POZ, here

   

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Inflammatory Diseases Are Major Concern For Those on HIV Treatment

Treatments to reduce inflammation could help make HIV even less of a threat to health than antiretrovirals can alone.

December 22, 2017


____________________________________________________________________________________ 

For people with HIV on antiretrovirals (ARVs) who have a moderately compromised immune system, serious cases of illnesses related to inflammation are a central concern. Consequently, treatments that dampen inflammation may make HIV even less of a threat to health than ARV treatment can on its own.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, researchers analyzed data on 3,568 members of the control arms of the SMART or ESPRIT studies who were on ARV treatment for HIV and had a viral load between 300 and 500. The participants were followed for serious (grade 4) cases of various serious non-AIDS-defining health conditions, AIDS, cardiovascular disease (CVD), non-AIDS-defining cancer (NADC) and death. The researchers classified the grade 4 events based on whether they reflected inflammation-related disease or non-inflammation-related disease.

The researchers also looked at the participants’ initial levels of an inflammatory marker known as interleukin-6 (IL-6) as well as a marker of coagulation (blood clotting) called D-dimer.

During a median follow-up of 4.3 years, 339 participants developed a grade 4 health event, for a rate of 2.29 percent per year, including 165 people who developed a grade 4 health event reflecting inflammation-related disease (for a rate of 1.07 percent per year). Overall grade 4 events were more common than AIDS (diagnosed in 54 participants), CVD (132 participants) and NADC (80 participants), health outcomes that developed in 252 participants all told, for a cumulative rate of 1.71 percent per year.

Forty-nine percent of grade 4 health events were those reflecting inflammation-related disease, including gastroenteritis (stomach flu), cirrhosis of the liver, acute kidney failure and acute pancreatitis. The most common grade 4 events not reflecting inflammation-related disease were depression, back pain, groin hernia and suicide attempt.

Grade 4 health events and AIDS were associated with similar risks of death.

Having a higher IL-6 level at the study’s outset was associated with 1.19-fold increased risk of grade 4 health events for every comparative doubling of the inflammatory marker’s level. And similarly, every comparative doubling of the baseline D-dimer level was associated with a 1.23-fold increased risk of grade 4 health events. The association between baseline IL-6 level and grade 4 health events was stronger for events reflecting inflammation-related disease (associated with a 1.38-fold increased risk for each comparative doubling of the initial level) compared with those reflecting non-inflammation-related disease (associated with a 1.11-fold increased risk for each comparative doubling of the initial level).

“Our findings showed that potentially life-threatening conditions associated with the activation of inflammatory and coagulation pathways due to HIV are more extensive than AIDS and [serious non-AIDS health events] which heretofore have been considered,” the study authors concluded.

To read the study abstract, click here.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ A Year of President Trump: The Need to Build Community for People Living with HIV

HIV Caucus Vice Chair Barb Cardell protesting GOP health care plans  - Associated Press

By Andrew Spieldenner, PhD

December 14, 2017

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

It’s been a year of President Trump, and for those of us who are “other”—whether we identify as people of color, women, part of the LGBTQ community, immigrant or concerned with the environment—it’s been a rough one. Our concerns have been trampled on, our experiences dismissed, our rights rolled back. And the onslaught has been deliberate, intense and ongoing. The United States People Living with HIV Caucus (the HIV Caucus) recognizes the damage the harmful rhetoric, institutional neglect, and discrimination-based violence has inflicted this past year. This statement is an acknowledgement of what we have been through and where we can go.

While the United States has never been a truly safe place for many of us—whose differences are marked by color, sexuality, gender identity and expression, religion, socioeconomic class, disability, age—it has become more overtly hostile under the current administration.  The death toll from hurricane Maria, still undetermined, and many acts violence on the basis of race and gender; President Trump praises white supremacists from his social media platform, dismisses sexual harassment allegations, and bans trans* and immigrants from our nation’s tapestry.

“History is constantly being revised to suit politics—people want to forget the pain they’ve experienced and the trauma our institutions have inflicted,” proclaims Andrew Spieldenner, Ph.D., California-based Chair of the HIV Caucus, “but ignoring a problem will not solve it. People living with HIV—in all of our identities, experiences and histories—are here, we are part of the US, and we deserve the same access to rights as anyone else. If we say we experience barriers—believe us. Don’t dismiss us or pretend we are not telling the truth because you don’t experience it.”

There are lessons we have learned, actions we can take and have taken. HIV activism has never accepted what we have been given or how we are legislated. In the past year, we have again protested publicly, loudly and consistently. From proposing immigration bans to sabotaging the Affordable Care Act, we continue to resist alongside our allies and against this administration and its hatred. We refuse to accept that our needs are not as important as the corporations billionaires run.

Barb Cardell, Colorado-based advocate and Vice Chair of the HIV Caucus, explains, “My commitment to street activism and protest was reignited, partly because this administration has been so horrific in denying rights of the LGBT community, people of color and people living with HIV (especially around healthcare). I hounded my state legislator on his complicity in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
              
Not everyone can protest safely. For many of us, the threats to our personal and professional safety require us to avoid engaging law enforcement and the legal system. But it’s important for us to find community: isolation can be dispiriting. Tiommi Luckett, Philly-based advocate and Secretary of the HIV Caucus, states, “Though demonstrations and rallies can be effective, as a black transwoman living with HIV, I would rather organize and mobilize people from behind the scenes because my identities meet at the intersection of being criminalized for exercising my first amendment privilege.”

We witnessed amazing election results last week. From New Jersey to Virginia and beyond, voters came and made sure that their voices were heard loud and clear. In Milford, PA, Sean Strub—founder of POZ magazine and one of the founders of the HIV Caucus—won a bid for mayor. “I’m so proud of Sean [Strub] and the work he is doing in the small town of Milford,” attests Tami Haught, Iowa-based HIV advocate and member of the HIV Caucus leadership team, “it’s vital that people living with HIV take part in the legislative process.”

AIDS Watch is the largest national legislative HIV day in the United States; in 2018, we are convening on March 25-27, 2018 in Washington, D.C. The HIV Caucus is the proud partner of AIDS United and Treatment Access Expansion Project, bringing together people living with HIV and our allies to meet with legislators and make our case about our needs, as well as coming together and connect with each other. Last year we saw a record number of participants. This coming year, we must come together in even larger numbers to proclaim “RESIST!” The only way to battle these onslaughts is through community.

More from POZ, here

  

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Hello World – I am HIV

RESPECT yourself enough to PROTECT yourself

Rainbow Pastor David

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Hello world, let me introduce myself, I am HIV.

I am only a virus however I claim more and more lives every year.

I hide from your medication and I wreck your immune systems.

I cloak myself as a friend to your body all the while I unleash 

my hellish plan.

I will make you sick and susceptible to all sorts of disease.

I will make you fear for your life-

I will make you feel unloved-

I will make you feel unclean.

You will have overwhelming feelings of depression 
because I work on your mind.

I will speed up the aging process – 

You did not want to live a long life anyway right?

You will be rejected – shunned – shamed and abandoned by people you thought were your friends. 

Why?

I scare them with the unknown.

I will continue to replicate – mutate and spread from one person to another.

Why you ask?

I have made myself appear to be “NOT THAT BIG A DEAL”

After all you only have to take a pill if I invade your body.

Oh the lies I have incorporated into your everyday thinking, even now you are thinking you are “Safe” if you are found “Undetectable”.

I am HIV and I will destroy the human race because mankind would rather seek out self pleasure than protect themselves from little old me.

Don’t be so naïve humans – I have one plan in mind and that is to live long after you have disappeared from this planet.

So keep doing what you are doing – having all the “FUN” you want.

I can’t wait to meet you when the test results come back.

You are Positive.

Oh, now you come to realize that I am truly a foe you 

could not withstand.

All your sexual adventures – needle sharing and just not caring come flooding in when you hear those three words.

You are Positive.

Get ready now for the ride of your life.

I will make you a slave to the medical field – 

hope you like your doctors.

Get use to taking pills and more pills and more pills as 

I slowly destroy you from the inside out.

Hello world I am HIV and I am coming for you.

You don’t want to be a slave to me you say-

Then heed the words of this warning –

If you do not respect yourself enough

To PROTECT yourself from me –

I will find you out and we will become one.

So take your precautions now –

Safe Sexual Practices

PREP

Abstinence 

Get TESTED regularly if you 

are sexually active

Do whatever it is you need to do –

For I tell you this one thing is TRUE

If you think for one minute you are IMMUNE to me

You will soon DIE.

I will stop at nothing to spread myself from one person to another

So if you really LOVE yourself it’s time to take precautions 

to protect yourself.

Just remember I will NOT be your FRIEND –

My intention is clear –

I want you DEAD.

I want to watch you suffer from one disease to the next

As I destroy all your defenses.

I will watch and laugh as even the slightest cold

Will be so hard for you to fight

For my sake I hope you put me out of your mind

I do not want you to think about me

I want to take you by surprise.

So go ahead and believe all the lies

I am waiting for you.

Hello world – I am HIV.

Don’t be fooled my friends – HIV is REAL

 – HIV still DESTROYS

 – HIV will come in so every stealthy.

So remember this above all else –

ONLY YOU have the POWER to keep yourself

FREE from HIV….

RESPECT yourself – PROTECT yourself

Rainbow Pastor DavidA. Moorman

12-01-2015