Posted on 06/29/2018 7:13:32 PM PDT by spintreebob
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to research whether gay and transgender people of color could receive better access to care and experience reduced HIV infection rates if they discuss insurance coverage with their providers earlier.
The agency is seeking approval from the White House's Office of Management and Budget to launch the study in Chicago, focusing on black and Hispanic males who have sex with men and transgender persons. The CDC will work with community partners to help people connect to coverage.
Gay men accounted for 81% of new HIV infections among males and 65% of all new HIV infections, according to the CDC. Researchers have also found HIV rates among black and Hispanic transgender women to be 56% and 16%, respectively.
The CDC wants to evaluate whether these individuals will experience better health outcomes if providers talk with them about coverage options during sexually transmitted disease testing. Currently, these conversations tend to take place after patients receive their test results.
The agency wants to determine whether the change will lead to more participants obtaining health insurance, experiencing better health by achieving viral suppression or remaining HIV-free and improve retention rates for HIV care including using medications known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, and other HIV-associated health services like mental health counseling and substance use treatment.
Research has shown that individuals who start antiretroviral therapy on the same day that they are diagnosed with HIV are more likely to be engaged in their care over the long term, according to Jeffrey Crowley, who served under President Barack Obama as director of the Office of National AIDS policy and now oversees infectious disease initiatives at Georgetown University.
However, there are too many barriers to same-day starts to treatment, Crowley said. A primary hurdle is lack of health insurance.
"If this study is able to demonstrate that getting people who test for HIV enrolled in coverage when they test, it could improve their health generally no matter their HIV test result," Crowley said.
Others agreed the study could be an important step to making sure marginalized individuals are getting the coverage they need.
"People who are HIV-negative are great candidates for PrEP, and we have seen very low uptake among populations most vulnerable to HIV in Chicago and nationally," said John Peller, CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. "The opportunity to sign these most vulnerable populations up for health insurance and connect them to primary care could address a major gap in the system."
A third of gay young men who take PrEP medication discontinue it within six months, according to a May 2018 study published in the AIDS and Behavior Journal.
Common reasons for stopping included being unable to get an doctor appointment and problems with insurance coverage.
The CDC's proposed study could affect the practice of medicine by engaging individuals in care earlier and thus improving the support these populations receive, according to Ethan Morgan, a research fellow at Northwestern University who co-authored the May 2018 study.
In addition to improving access to coverage, there is hope that promising findings from the CDC study will lead to an increase in federal funding for coverage navigators, according to Erin Loubier, senior director for health and legal integration and payment innovation at Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center in Washington, D.C., that specializes in caring for LGBTQ patients.
Federal funding for navigators that help people search the individual market or Medicaid programs for coverage dropped 41% or by $62.5 million between 2016 and 2017.
"If the CDC finds it makes a difference to have these conversations it begs the question if it will help drive more funding for insurance enrollment assistance," Loubier said.
This question is about a lot more than just this one CDC spend. It is about hundreds, maybe thousands, of separate Taxpayer spends that encourage Making America Gone Away.
Hey Perverts. Just say NO
Fools
There are buses in Maryland with ad’s on the back that state;
“If you are HIV positive and take the proper Medications, you CAN’T pass on the virus”.
I was shocked.
Even in the era of Trump, the madness does not end with government.
Should your tax dollars at the CDC be encouraging an unhealthy lifestyle? Should people be financially subsidized for choosing an unhealthy lifestyle?”
No and no. I hope Mulvaney shuts this down.
Shut up and control diseases,
Why should tax dollars favor groups having KNOWN risky behavior?
The government spends money on all kinds of safety regulations, from stop-smoking campaigns, auto safety requirements and tamper-proof packaging.
Perhaps a “don’t stick you pecker up someone else’s poop chute” campaign would save thousands of lives, and billions in medical costs.
The CDC? Gay people are a disease?
Unicorns, what about them????
Totally defund cdc. This is crap.
The perverts are maxxing out the system right now. They get hundreds of thousands of drugs subsidized by us to continue to keep being perverted.
Cripes on toast.
The left has always insisted that all people are the same and to do any targeted medical research was racist, misogynistic, or homophobic. So which is it?
They’re always talking about limiting health care benefits to smokers, and obese people, why should gays, black or otherwise be given special treatment in light of their unhealthy lifestyle?
“The CDC wants to evaluate whether these individuals will experience better health outcomes if providers talk with them about coverage options during sexually transmitted disease testing. Currently, these conversations tend to take place after patients receive their test results”
It’s rather obvious they are not using the most important coverage option.
What’s to research?
Just keep your pecker in your pants and needles out of your arms.
They make it sound like HIV is transmitted by health car providers.
Why subsidize the gynophobes while they’re behaving so unhealthily?
CDC: private ownership of firearms is a public health “emergency”; but promiscuous diseased sodomites should be praised and encouraged !
CDC= Condoning Demonrat Corruption
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.