HIV/AIDS prevention? Who needs it?! That seems to be the attitude of the Trump administration and his fellow Republicans. Not only have they closed down White House Office of AIDS Policy, but now they’re trying to strip away access to PrEP in more than 30 states.
At the moment, PrEP costs around $1,500 a month without insurance. With insurance, that number is drastically reduced to anywhere from $0 to $500, depending on a person’s health insurance plan and provider. But that might be changing if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and “Trumpcare” takes effect.
In their blueprint to replace the ACA released earlier this week, House Republicans said they plan to eliminate the Medicaid expansion. As a result, access to PrEP, particularly for low-income Americans, would be cut off in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
Related: Report: Trump closes down White House Office of AIDS Policy
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
How would it do this? Time reports:
The new bill would begin phasing out federal money for the expansion in 2020, likely blocking new applicants and access to meds like PrEP. If the plan passes in its current form, traditional Medicaid will be replaced by per-capita grants, a fixed-sum per person, which could result in cuts over time. And a proposed repeal of the ACA’s cost-sharing assistance, which paid insurers to reduce the burden of enrollees based on their income, would make coverage more expensive for poor Americans.
Considering that the vast majority of PrEP users are gay and bisexual men, we can’t help but feel like this is yet another direct attack against the LGBTQ community.
Nearly 80,000 Americans have started PrEP from 2012 to 2015.
“When PrEP was first approved, gay and bisexual men were not using it,” Noël Gordon Jr., a senior program specialist for HIV prevention & health equity at the Human Rights Campaign, tells Time. “Now, we’ve seen an exponential increase in users.”
Gordon says a repeal of the ACA would be “devastating” as “it has the potential to turn the tide the other direction, where we could potentially see the spread of HIV.”
Related: Insurance Company Slut Shames Man, Denies Him Coverage Because He’s On Truvada
ChrisK
For those that never bothered to get off their asses to vote this is what you get. Elections matter.
1EqualityUSA
The GOP sees it as money flowing from the opposition, were gay guys forced to pay out of pocket for this.
Kangol
Heckuva craptastic, homophobic job, Trump & GOP!
mhoffman953
But Gilead already offers Truvada for free or a reduced price to people without insurance. Condoms are cheaper too, so that’s always an option – I mean they prevent diseases which Truvada doesn’t. Everyone doesn’t always have to have bareback, its not very healthy anyways.
philipcfromnyc
This PrEP-shaming mentality infuriates me and leaves me cold.
Condoms break. Yes, I know that this does not happen very often, but it DOES happen. And when it DOES, the person who experienced the condom failure may have to spend several months suffering an agonizing wait until the standard ELISA / Western Blot methodology clears him. (Yes, I know that a PCR test can give a positive result after just three or four days, but not everybody can afford to come up with several hundred dollars for such a test.)
Why are so many otherwise reasonable men so stubborn and inflexible with respect to PrEP? And why do so many such men automatically assume that a person on PrEP must necessarily be barebacking?
But let’s actually assume the worst — let’s assume that a person who takes PrEP four or more times per week IS actually barebacking. Under these circumstances, PrEP is estimated to be about 99% effective Why begrudge anybody a remedy which is so effective?
OK — I get it — we should not encourage barebacking, because there are more diseases out there than HIV. But to derogate such an effective means of HIV transmission prevention merely because this method causes some people to climb onto their high horses is senseless at best, and downright murderous at worst.
To those who labor under this mentality — get the hell down from off your high horse before you slip and break your damned neck!
PHILIP CHANDLER
Juanjo
Typical right wing bullshit. Gilead does not offer Truvada for free. It offers a patient or potential patient assistance with finding government programs like Medicare as well as other independent financial assistance with co-pays.
If you are going to tell fibs, kindly find one which is not easily proven false. http://www.truvada.com/truvada-patient-assistance.
As for condoms, they are extremely useful but like Truvada, they are not guaranteed to work. They break, they leak, they slip off. Truvada added an extra layer of protection to protect people.
As for the bareback issue, I agree that barebacking is not something people should be doing. But I am not interested in slut shaming people who make a poor choice in their life and suffer extreme consequences. I have yet to meet the human being who has not made a stupid decision either in the heat of the moment, because they were impaired due to alcohol and/or drugs or out of sheer stupidity. I have represented them in court before.
Making a foolish choice should not be a death sentence. That is basic human compassion.
SactoMan
Sigh… This ridiculous argument again. I wish I could send the a-holes in a time machine back to the 80s to experience true fear. Meanwhile, just stick a giant condom over your head and stfu…
Mr-DJ
The Gilead copay assistance card cannot be used, at all, if your insurance is in anyway related to Medicare, Medicaid, and a few others.
natekerchel
The real agenda – to withdraw funding that primarily affects LGBT people. As for the arrogance of the trump lover to presume to tell people how to have sex – its none of your business. You don’t have the right to peer into people’s bedrooms and comment on what they should or should not be doing. Self determination and freedom of choice have not yet been banned I believe. What is being discussed here is a deliberate attack on a minority group purely on the basis of the dogma of hate and regardless of the long term health implications.
linda_heyroth
Aids is non-discriminating and even a straight person can carry it to another straight person.
ChrisK
Intelligence is very discriminating though. You can’t carry AIDS to someone darling.
ChrisK
I love it when conservatives attempt humor. Reminds of Dr Evil.
https://youtu.be/7edeOEuXdMU?list=RD7edeOEuXdMU
linda_heyroth
Who knows may be even Paul Ryan’s wife might catch up one of these days from another straight person
batesmotel
So you want the government and the hard working tax payers to pay up so you can have sex? Sounds a bit arrogant. Put a condom on if you can’t afford it.
DarkZephyr
That isn’t what this is about. Are you a teenager or in your 20s or something? Did you not see what the AIDS epidemic did in the 80s and 90s? I was a child at the time and was sheltered from all of this, but that is why we have to research it for ourselves before we make comments.
Should we cut funding to ALL attempts to end diseases? Or just the ones that are largely contracted sexually? Does the fact that sex is the biggest way its spread mean its just a little bit more dirty, its prevention a lot less important and the lives of those it affects a bit less worthy?
DarkZephyr
I invite you to watch the documentary “We Were Here” to try to get a better understanding of it. Funding to fight HIV/AIDS is necessary NOT so that people can have lots of sex without condoms, this is because HIV/AIDS needs to be stopped.
SactoMan
No, just a POS troll…
tacoma4x4
@DarkZephyr If prep was truly a way to fight HIV then it wouldn’t cost $1500. All it really is is yet another way to get more sheep dependent on big pharma. There is growing evidence that shows how dangerous this drug is, and that if it is not taken religiously it will lead to more drug resistant strains of HIV. And the bottom line is, it’s not the tax payer’s responsibility to pay for your sex life. If you’re a responsible adult then be responsible for yourself. If that means not screwing around then that’s what it means. I don’t take prep, I won’t date anyone who does take prep and I’m not going to be forced to pay for someone else to do so.
wmca_goodguys
Democrat Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren votes against the “21st Century Cures” bill (sponsored by Republican Fred Upton): “The NIH and Cures Innovation Fund is established and funds are appropriated: (1) for biomedical research, including high-risk, high-reward research and research conducted by early stage investigators; (2) to develop and implement a strategic plan for biomedical research; and (3) to carry out specified provisions of this Act.” I guess, Queerty, there are Democrats, too, who vote against the best interests of the people… and there’s hardly a more despicable democrat than Elizabeth Warren.
DarkZephyr
I just LOVE the finger pointing game. So does this make what the GOP is doing OK?
Bulovaboy
Without being Bitter, I hope everyone of them who makes these increases and denies access to these life saving drugs contract some deadly disease along with their families. They are f—–g futile pigs who deserve to know what it feels like to struggle not only Monetarily but Physical and Mental disabilities. I don’t wish death on anyone, but that’s exactly what they are doing to us. If you want to delete population just drop the f—–g bomb already and start over, lets see how far you get, this government disgusts me. So much for peace. God Bless the People who take action. But at this rate with this asshole in office and his cabinet, as well as the Drug industries. We need another Civil War and to take the bastards out. I hate to say it, but IT IS WHAT WE NEED. So screw the Gun laws and choose your weapon because you’re eventually going to need it. I’ve held back my feeling for years but this hits home for me. And they can investigate me, check my TV, my phone and anything else they like. Truth of the matter is they “will not take control” without a fight.
NateOcean
They won’t cover birth control or PrEP, but the elderly limp-dicked Congressmen and Senators sure can’t get enough of that government sumsizided Viagra.
$41-million a year for Erectile Dysfunction (grandpa’s boner pills).
captainburrito
The actual cost is probably significantly higher. The $41M a year is just what the Pentagon spends and lions share for that is for military family. So we can roughly deduce the cost for the population at large would be significantly higher – especially if you factor in employer healthcare plans which are not taxable so effectively those are tax payer subsidized too.
Mandrake
Sounds like people will have to insist on their partners wearing condoms again if they’re not sure of health status. They might even have to be more discriminating with whom they have sex. A terrible state of affairs!
DarkZephyr
This isn’t just about PrEP Mandrake. Are you aware that there are already people living with the disease and they need access to medications that they can’t afford without help? Are not aware of what that bastard “Pharmabro” did? How can you make a remark like this?
dwes09
Regressives always make comments like this. Everything has to be simple and not nuanced for them.
They figure the suffering of people with HIV/AIDS is “punishment for evil sex”.
Just as women being forced to bear unwanted children is punishment for their promiscuity.
It is how they think.
jimontp
‘More discriminating about whom they have sex with.”
Are you serious? A guy tells you he’s negative- is that the discrimination you’re talking about? That’s the most dangerous for you, cause he could be recently infected, not know it, and have a sky high viral load. Since you’re only worried about your partner wearing a condom, we’ll assume you’re the bottom. Ever checked afterwards that the condom hadn’t split? Know your partner pulled out while still holding the condom so that some cum didn’t spill out? Checked the condom to see that it was full of cum? I doubt it.
That’s why condoms were only about 80% effective. Now there is a MUCH better way to prevent transmission of HIV, and you don’t care that the Trump administration wants to cut funding for it?
As the Orange man says,
“Such a loser, so sad, so sad.”
tacoma4x4
I don’t screw around with whores so it doesn’t affect me. If you did the same it wouldn’t affect you either. See how easy that is?
mikeincleveland
People who don’t have sex telling people who can have sex if they can have sex.
TimberWolf
This isn’t about PrEp, and the facts need to be clear before tantrums and quick to react. HIV /AIDS research and development is as important as Breast Cancer and every other fatal diseases that Americans and people globally have supported in finding a cure from marches to fund raisers and support in every form possible. PrEP is not a cure, it is not a ” gay man’s” safety pill for unprotected sex. of course the news is skating stirring people before delivering the facts. HIV /AIDS needs support by the government along with support for other diseases . Unprotected sex is just that it can spread viruses to anyone male of female and not just HIV but STDs that have to cure. Protesting isn’t the answer nor is riots. but having Pharmaceutical companies, doctors, scientist and politicians that will fight for American rights in support for such acts not to be squashed by those in the Government who think nothing about the people but more of there own career and positions
blackout_boycott
This is okay by me, PrEP doesn’t work to prevent HIV, but promoting HIV positive to use PrEP unsafe, and protected.
Condoms prevents HIV positive, and all disease’s associated in sex.
There is already proof in a case that a user used PrEP, and all in contact of the person went unprotected has HIV now.
Condoms is the only answer, PrEP isn’t and you just place your self at high risk of contracting HIV!
philipcfromnyc
“This is okay by me, PrEP doesn’t work to prevent HIV,”
Excuse me? Are you for real? The best estimates are that reliable usage of Truvada (PrEP) are that it cuts down the risk of transmission by about 99%!
I’ll go long with that any day!
PHILIP CHANDLER
SactoMan
The stupid is great in this one…
jimontp
You really need to get educated about PreP and what the scientific research shows.
1. PreP WORKS. All the research studies (google it) show that it is MORE than 99% effective. You mention ONE case, when 9,999 study subjects did not get infected.
2. HIV positive people DO NOT USE PreP- it is for HIV negative people. HIV positive people who are on a triple combination of meds and have an undetectable level of HIV virus, do not transmit HIV. Most AIDS prevention groups now state that Undetectable = Untransmissable. To confuse HIV positive using PrEP shows your ignorance of the basic science and logic.
3. Condoms work only if you use them every time, they don’t break, and no cum slips out when you pull our. Condoms were the only thing available until PreP and they worked out about 80% of the time.
4. San Francisco, which has an aggressive PrEP program, has actually seen a big decline in new HIV cases (Google it). PreP works. Getting all HIV positive men on meds and with an undetectable viral load works.
Get some education.
Saying “this is okay by me,” to condone depriving people of medications is just so damn ugly and beneath contempt.
ivanw222
This is less about new hiv/aids cases, but about those already living with it. Their access to life saving meds will be gone. Yet another reason to make sure Trump is a one term president!
paul dorian lord fredine
aids isn’t just a ‘gay disease’ but this is one more things that proves when he said he was going to be ‘the best friend’ of the lgbtq community was just another in a long string of lies (excuse me, alternative facts). big surprise.
theszak
The Strategy. BEFORE sex test TOGETHER for A VARIETY OF STIs Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus then make an INFORMED decision, google… tested together before sex
verbaltopman
It is ridiculous to label PrEP as AIDS “prevention.” Its effectiveness is only about 90%, and that’s just an estimate. Anyone who takes it and thinks that they’re suddenly immune to HIV/AIDS and blithely has unprotected sex is a fool. Better safe than sorry — wrap that rascal.
ChrisK
Didn’t anyone tell you that talking out of your ass doesn’t count as real statistics?
argleflarglebargle
I love how you say “Effectiveness is ONLY about 90%”. as though that’s somehow bad. I mean honestly just piss off. By your standard, we couldn’t label seatbelts as auto safety devices since those only reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45% (Which is an actual number I got from an actual study you can find on the Road Safety Observatory website). There is no perfect method, but Prep being an 86-100 percent effectiveness (Again, actual numbers gotten from an actual study, try looking one up sometime) is amazing and should be praised, not just “Oh well it’s only 90%”… which, fun fact, is also the average effectiveness of condoms (Again, Actual numbers from actual study put the average rate of condom effectiveness at around 82%, it’s only 98% if you use them every single time and never make a mistake… and who is perfect when they’re horny?)
kofender
Wow, I’m just stunned at how little Queerty understands about healthcare policy, as well how it continues to miss the bigger story. Where to begin? Technically, if Medicaid goes away (which it won’t; it won’t even be turned into block grants to states because this plan by the republicans is never going to pass, especially with AARP now against it, as well as the AMA), access to PrEP could become more challenging. This part of the story I agree with. But you’re not looking at the major unnamed culprit here. Let’s talk about the manufacturer, Gilead Sciences. Gilead makes BILLIONS of dollars on all of its various HIV medications—except one. Oh, it makes plenty of money on Truvada (PrEP). No, I’m referring to the drug it has locked in its vaults, you know, the one we could technically refer to as a cure for HIV. The one going through clinical trials four years ago and proving to be more effective than anything else. The drug Gilead refuses to market because it would kill its HIV business model.
Gilead provides lots of funding for HIV/AIDS organizations, so they won’t challenge this nefarious company. But some of us (who were prepping the marketing for this drug) saw all the clinical trial results (I still have them on file, in fact). It was spectacular. Then Gilead pulled the plug. Sure, it’s a corporation and it has to make money. But as it learned from its Solvaldi for Hep C (you know, the one costing $84,000 for a course of treatment), when you CURE a disease (and Solvaldi cured Hep C), you run the risk of losing any repeat business. Gilead turned Hep C into a curable disease rather than a chronic (and often fatal) one. This means it only (???) makes the $84K instead of the hundreds of thousands it might have made otherwise.
Now we have a treatment for HIV rendering the virus dead, dead, dead. And this treatment is not going to be marketed. Why doesn’t Queerty ever say anything about this? That’s the real scandal in HIV healthcare, but Queerty remains oddly silent on the subject (it’s not like it’s the biggest secret in town). The above article is mere speculation. Queerty should be dealing with the facts.
(Anyone want to bet Queerty continues to stay silent on this HIV treatment? I wonder how much Gilead pays Queerty to stay silent. Ball’s in your corner, Queerty.)
mhoffman953
Agreed. That is the bigger story here and I’m sure Gilead isn’t the only big-pharma company doing this, nearly all of them are doing this very thing especially with cancer drugs. There are medical treatments being tested in R&D of these companies which could cure tons of diseases but will never be released and will instead become watered down versions to just sometimes prevent or prolong diseases without providing a cure.
tacoma4x4
Exactly. Not to mention all the other drug$ you’ll then have to take to combat the $ide-effect$ of the previous drug. There is no money in cures. If car manufacturers built cars that lasted forever they’d be out of business pretty quick.
Mandrake
After reading numerous reactions to this article, I gather many of those who commented think having ready access to prep is a RIGHT. It is not. Having sex and with whom is a CHOICE. If you’d prefer not wearing a condom, fine, then pay for it. As a gay taxpayer, I do not owe you Prep!
natekerchel
If we want to be silly about this Mandrake – as a gay taxpayer why should i pay any amount of tax for educating children of breeders – as a gay taxpayer why should I for anything related to any kind of service that is exclusively for ‘straight’ people or their children? They can use condoms too. That is a choice too. You see how ridiculous it begins to sound? I am surprised that someone who claims to be a gay man has the nerve to tell other people how they should have sex. If you are gay then I am sure you don’t like it when the extremists try and tell you that you to stop having sex in ways that upset them.But here are you doing the same thing. There is no point in saying ‘what if’ or ‘you should have done…’. We have to deal with the real situation. The real situation is that the homophobes are all set for another attack on lgbt people – but this time using health care. That’s what should concern you.
mhoffman953
@natekerchel If you’re against government having a hand in your sex life, then why are you advocating for government to have a hand in your healthcare. This should be an issue handled by private insurance or the drug manufacturer.
The concept you’re suggesting will eventually lead to socialism. If you think tax payers should pay for your Truvada, then why shouldn’t the taxpayers pay for your food, shelter, clothes, transportation, education, internet, cell phone, and other healthcare needs?
ChrisK
@mhoffman953
natekerchel brought up some great points though. One, we already have socialism in this country ie paying for public schools. Two, Prep is about the public welfare and that’s the governments job. Your examples have nothing to do with that.
natekerchel
Yet again mhoffman you fail to understand. It is not the ‘government’ who contributes to health care – it is the TAX PAYER! The tax money does not belong to the government – it belongs to all of us. Even if you are not a tax payer you are still a citizen of the USA and entitled to a voice. I don’t get to choose how my taxes are used – I would not be squandering them on unnecessary weapons of mass destruction or sending thousands of troops to countries where we have no business being. And don’t bother getting all fake patriotic – it does not work with me. Loyalty should be to your fellow citizens first – not some 18th century notion of what patriotism means.
FYI – I don’t use Truvada or any other medication involved in this issue. My comments are made from the perspective of being concerned for my fellow human beings – not profit and loss. And yes if people are starving then we should feed them. You may think it is ok to be greedy and selfish and inhumane – I don’t.
tacoma4x4
And it is the government that controls taxes. It is not the government’s responsibility to provide healthcare to its citizens. It is the governments responsibility to create a sound infrastructure where the free market can flourish, and a strong military to defend that infrastructure from outside threats. Beyond that it is up to each citizen to be responsible for their own well being and actions, not the taxpayer. When government provides health care they can then start dictating how people live their lives, what foods they’re allowed to eat, what substances they’re allowed to put in their bodies, how much exercise they get each day or each week, what sort of activities they’re allowed to engage in based on how “healthy” they are for you, etc. all in the name of cost reduction. That is not freedom. That leads to a nanny state. If you want Prep then pay for it yourself or find an insurance company that covers it. That is the free market. It is not the tax payer’s responsibility to pay for it for you, especially when over half of the population pays ZERO in taxes. That same half are the ones who take the most from government programs, which in turn takes more money out of the pockets of those of us who DO pay taxes. Socialism is cancer.
He BGB
I’m not going to argue about Prep but say it looks like Trump’s administration is going to try to overturn EVERYTHING that is gay, women, muslim, anything that is not straight white Christian male. Trump having a chip on his shoulder and wants to undo Obama and everything his hand has touched….Ivanka may have stopped some anti gay executive order (?) But she can’t stop President Bannon. Did you see the 20/20 on gay conversion. Alabama has a religious freedom bill and it falls under church so these backwoods camps are not licensed, the men running them are uneducated ignorant rednecks who are doing it for the money and are free to abuse the children. Millions because they’re fleecing these ignorant parents who want to be sure to see their child in heaven.
Mandrake
I find it interesting, natekerchel, that you’re analogizing choices you make in your sex life with paying for public education. I suppose because you’re gay you didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of public education because that’s exclusively for straight people. I guess taxpayers didn’t pay for your education because you’re gay. Nobody has a right to tell others how to have sex, but don’t expect taxpayers to foot the bill for Prep if condoms and choices are readily available to any individual, straight or gay. Your rebuttal is foolish and makes no sense.
natekerchel
Yet again mandrake you make assumptions. I was fortunate enough to have a private education paid for by my family. So no taxpayer paid for my education at any stage and I do not use ‘public funds’ for any health care at all. I pay for everything I need. The difference is that I am not heartless like you. Nor do I accept your right to interfere in anyone’s sex life. The ‘rebuttal’ was meant to be foolish – to highlight the nonsense of the original point – read what i typed before commenting. But I guess complex ideas are beyond your ken Mr.Mandrake.
carson_amber
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natekerchel
Just to remind all you fake gays/homophobes/trump trolls – there is such thing as ‘government money’ – there is only TAX PAYER MONEY. Tax payer money is supposed to used fairly and without discrimination or absurd conditions for ALL citizens needs. So what if some cannot afford to pay as much as others in taxes. That is called ‘sharing’ and that’s what’s makes for a good society.
Mandrake
Natekerchel, How fortunate you can pay for everything you need, but expect the taxpayer to pay for everyone else. I am amused that you think I am “interfering” in people’s sex lives because I’m not willing to have my tax dollar pay for their Prep. Your family sent you to private school for your education. How nice. tell them they lost a chunk of their money sending you.
natekerchel
You are such a baby Mandrake. I pay huge sums of money in taxes and | am very happy that at least some of that goes to help fund these drugs. Unfortunately I am not a billionaire or I could, and would contribute more. Unlike you Mandrake I care about what happens to people who can’t afford medical care. I admit that I come from a privileged background, but I never forget to give back, and I don’t grudge one penny of it. I said you interfere in people’s sex lives because you told them to wear a condom – do you actually read what is typed before you begin your rants? Trying to insult my education will not work on me – I am not trump and don’t care what you say about me as you dont know me. But just to fill you in on my education – I somehow managed to get a Masters degree in politics and history. How about you mandrake? Wanna play the education game? You will lose.
tacoma4x4
So you’re an enabler for people to stay poor and become more dependent on big government. You should be so proud.
arcoarconcio_passivy
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arcoarconcio_passivy
Gov DonaldTrumpDonald Replubic Economic Bank Dollar´s Money ……
Deviant
Poor americans…. why dont question price of truvada, and why is 1500 $ in USA and 5 times cheaper in Europe. Why don’t you question laws that forbid import of foreign made meds to usa market?