queeranarchism:

saxifraga-x-urbium:

me-myself-and-bi:

zevveli:

marlbororeds100s:

politijohn:

ICYMI - Huge news!

PrEP, the HIV prevention pill, must now be totally free under almost all insurance plans

The federal government announced that almost all health insurers must cover PrEP with no cost sharing — for the drug itself and for clinic v

NBC News

^link to the article for further info & accessibility

Just so ya’ll know. They’re gonna loophole this which is why we have to spread this information. I work at a pharmacy and I can tell you that a lot of these insurance companies only “Cover” them. Here’s what has been happening: You go to your doctor to get PrEP, they write a prescription and send it to the Pharmacy. When you get there they tell you that insurance isn’t covering it. You say that the law says that they have to. They say that it will, but not through THEM. The insurance company says that they’ll only cover it through a “specialty pharmacy” (which on the one hand, fair enough, NIOSH standards for drugs state that if you are handling the pills then there are specific forms of PPE you need that we at retail do not have, but on the other hand that doesn’t matter if we aren’t opening the freaking bottles) which will then either mail it to you or ship it to the pharmacy to take it out of the box, scan it in, and bag it. Which is what we’d do normally anyways except with the added step of making you wait 2-3 business days to get it. And because technically they “cover it” it’s not a law violation. But they’re hoping that you’ll not want to wait and just pay the $3000 out of pocket.

For any of my US friends out there 👍💡

Important to note here that PreP can be prescribed after sex with an hiv-positive person, like a kind of morning after pill. It’s more effective if you are already on PreP before sex but taking it after still dramatically reduces the chance of transmission, provided you start taking it as fast as possible, which means definitely within 24-48 hours.
So that’s waiting period? That’s going to force some people to either pay the full price or lose the window to prevent transmission after sex. That’s a big big deal.