Important Happenings in HIV/Health Policy

Important Happenings in HIV/Health Policy

Week Ending: May 11, 2018
By: Matthew Rose & Sable K. Nelson

Trump Administration Offers Ideas for Lowering Drug Prices

On Friday, May 11, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar discussed the Trump Administration’s plans to lower drug prices as President Trump looked on in the White House Rose Garden by:
1. Restructuring the way pharmacy benefit managers deal with drug makers
2. Changing the way Medicare pays for some expensive drugs
3. Making prices more transparent

For more information, READ → https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/14/611075950/trump-administrations-3-biggest-ideas-for-lowering-drug-prices?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20Daily%20Health%20Policy%20Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=62919386&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–xrNAfHpubv4c4ItYHVUrf3fNcFiurCSRArVzbi1uRLE3JmYD5HWHIYduO7uYiQ3BksmmKGb-23i_Qp1a8QsyBNnprPQ&_hsmi=62919386

Maryland Announces Agreement on All-Payer Health Model

In 2014, Maryland became the only state that can set its own rates for hospital services and mandate that all payers charge the same rate for services at a given hospital in the state. However, the federal government required Maryland to further develop its health model to include health care that patients receive in the hospital and in the community. Just last week, Maryland announced that the federal government approved the state’s revised all-payer health care model in Maryland. For more information, READ → https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/maryland/articles/2018-05-14/maryland-announces-agreement-on-all-payer-health-model?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20Daily%20Health%20Policy%20Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=62919386&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–xrNAfHpubv4c4ItYHVUrf3fNcFiurCSRArVzbi1uRLE3JmYD5HWHIYduO7uYiQ3BksmmKGb-23i_Qp1a8QsyBNnprPQ&_hsmi=62919386

PrEP Access for Minors

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved once-daily oral Truvada® (emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg)—in combination with safer sex practices—to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 in at-risk adolescents. The safety and efficacy profile of Truvada for HIV prevention in uninfected adults, a strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is well established, and Truvada for PrEP was first approved for use in adults in 2012.

The addition of the adolescent indication is based on a study in HIV-negative individuals 15 to 17 years of age. In the United States, adolescents and young adults 13 to 24 years of age comprised 21 percent of all new infections in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 81 percent of those infections were among young men who have sex with men (YMSM).
READ → https://www.nasdaq.com/article/gilead-sciences-says-fda-approves-oncedaily-oral-truvada-20180515-00982

What NMAC is Doing About It

NMAC remains vigilant in its advocacy to protect FY19 government funding and the existence of the social safety net.
NMAC released a Biomedical HIV Prevention “Blueprint” entitled Expanding Access to Biomedical HIV Prevention: Tailoring Approaches for Effectively Serving Communities of Color, a new report that establishes strategies to effectively use techniques such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Treatment as Prevention (TasP) to end the HIV epidemic in communities of color. The full report can be found by visiting www.nmac.org/blueprint.

What You Can Do

TAKE ACTION: Speak truth to power by sharing your personal stories with your elected officials. It is vitally important to meet to your federal elected officials when they are at home. If we don’t support and advocate for HIV funding and programs, who will?  Our movement cannot afford to stand on the sidelines.  Your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives need to hear from you.
Find your U.S. Senators: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Find your U.S. Representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Also, MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE in time for the primary and general elections happening this year:

For more information, VISIT→ https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-and-vote-in-your-state/

Finally, PARTICIPATE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION(S) in your state:

For more information, VISIT→ http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/2018-state-primary-election-dates.aspx