Posted on 01/11/2019 6:25:10 AM PST by reaganaut1
Settling allegations of discrimination filed by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, Mutual of Omaha has agreed not to deny insurance to people who use medications to prevent H.I.V. infection.
The insurer also has settled a lawsuit brought by an unidentified gay man in Massachusetts who was turned down for long-term-care insurance after acknowledging that he took an H.I.V.-prevention drug called Truvada.
“Consumers looking to protect themselves from H.I.V. transmission should not be excluded from buying insurance,” Maura Healey, the attorney general of Massachusetts, said in a prepared statement.
The company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlements and will make a $25,000 payment to the state.
Mutual of Omaha became the focus of discrimination complaints after applicants, mostly gay men, said they were denied disability, long-term-care or life insurance solely because they were taking Truvada to protect themselves from H.I.V., a practice called PrEP (short for pre-exposure prophylaxis).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges men and women at risk for H.I.V. infection to take Truvada daily. Studies have shown the drug to be extremely effective at blocking the virus, and health insurers almost always cover the cost.
Some gay men said that they stopped taking Truvada, potentially endangering themselves, simply to obtain insurance. After The Times reported the denials last year, regulators in New York also began investigating insurers in the state to see if they were engaged in similar practices.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If only there were a way you could be nearly 100% sure you don’t get infected without taking these drugs. You know, like the way insurers charge more to smokers because they are more likely to get lung cancer and whatnot.
“Unlike smoking”
Aside from vaping, which is a private defensive measure, what protection could the government offer to smokers?
The government could say that smoking will not increase your health insurance or life insurance premiums. But I oppose that. Insurance companies should be able to price risks.
This coverage should be a rider purchased voluntarily by those who need it and priced accordingly.
They should require a physical exam, and then say he didn’t pass the physical. It would all be BS, but it would work.
“sodomy is now government-protected behavior”
An accident looking for a place to happen.
A month’s supply of Truvada costs about $1600 (list price according to goodrx.com).
Regarding vaping, a commercial for a vaping device warns that the devices dispense nicotine WHICH CAN BE ADDICTIVE. They do not warn that nicotine can be harmful in other ways.
is nicotine is harmless other than addiction?
An interesting name? But keep sticking their dick up an asshole (pardon my french) because that is better than the disease or side effects.
Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include:
Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA.
Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.
Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.
Bone problems, including bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.
Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are headache, stomach-area (abdomen) pain, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.
When I see drugs advertised on TV and they list all the possible side effects, I always wonder WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would ever take any of these drugs???
Of course, there are snarky, unthinking toadies who would probably criticize ...
Oops. Sorry.
Not sorry .
“Are male homosexuals more likely to die young or become disabled than other males? I bet they are. But sodomy is now government-protected behavior, unlike smoking, for some reason.”
That is the DEFINITION of political power. The following FACT (in my opinion) is probably true:
“Being gay is likely the most dangerous lifestyle choice, other than getting addicted to drugs, that a young male can make today.”
But we’ll never know, since studies in this area are simply forbidden.
If the company didnt do anything wrong, why did it make a $25,000 “payment” to the state?
From another article about Truvada’s effectiveness:
“Testing of the man’s HIV strain revealed that he had contracted a rare strain that is simultaneously resistant to both ingredients in Truvada. Including his case, four of the six confirmed PrEP failures have involved rare, resistant HIV strains.
There is only one confirmed PrEP failure, involving a man from Amsterdam, in which the HIV strain contracted was not resistant to any drugs..”
Hmmm.... a drug-resistant variant of a disease-causing organism.
Well, if they keep creating the ideal environment for viral mutation, they’re going to continue to get viral mutation. Some behaviors are conducive to disease. Running around shrieking with your hair on fire that it’s discriminatory does not change this fact. Facts are stubborn things, more stubborn than male homosexuals who want to find a way to avoid the natural consequence of sticking their penises in some stranger’s anus, over and over again with many, many different strangers.
Then I want carte-blanche access to nicoderm and antabuse with no restrictions on how many or for how long....
“But I oppose that. Insurance companies should be able to price risks.”
Murky subject. Should someone with a genetic predisposition to get breast cancer pay more for their heath insurance?
Insurance companies SHOULD be able to assess risk based on rational and proven reasons. There is no debate that homos love to play Russian Roulette.
There are drug-resistant gonorrhea & syphilis, too.
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