Important Happenings in HIV/Health Policy

Week Ending: Sept. 14, 2018
By: Matthew Rose & Sable K. Nelson

Conference Committees Agrees on FY19 Health and Human Services Spending bill; Proposed HIV Cuts Fail

A bipartisan group of Appropriators have finished work on a package covering Defense and Labor-HHS-Education appropriations, along the way rejecting several policy measures. The Labor-HHS-Education bill (H.R. 6157) would provide nearly $178.1 billion in discretionary funding, a $1 billion increase over fiscal 2018. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would receive $90.5 billion, a $2.3 billion increase over fiscal 2018. Specifically, as it related to domestic HIV programs, Congress’ funding bill rejected all of the cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. The President proposed to cut funding for HIV prevention, viral hepatitis prevention, and STD prevention at the CDC, as well as eliminate the Ryan White AIDS Education and Training Centers, Ryan White Special Projects of National Significance, the HHS Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund, and Minority AIDS Initiative funding at SAMHSA. Now, the bill must be considered from the full House. It passed the Senate on Tuesday afternoon in a vote of 93-7. For more information, READ: https://www.axios.com/senate-passes-health-human-services-spending-bill-bba71d58-f5fb-42eb-abdc-51bc36994c76.html

Court Rules Case Challenging Defense Department’s Discriminatory HIV Policies to Proceed

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied the government’s motion to dismiss. Moreover, the plaintiffs’ motion to halt implementation of a new Department of Defense policy that likely would have resulted in the discharge of service members living with HIV was also denied because the Pentagon modified the policy after the plaintiffs filed the motion. Earlier this year, Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN filed two cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the Defense Department. The cases are entitled Harrison v. Mattis and Voe v. Mattis. The Harrison case was filed on behalf of Sgt. Nick Harrison, a veteran of two overseas combat zones who was denied a position in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps because current Pentagon policy considers service members living with HIV non-deployable and will not allow them to enlist or to be appointed as officers. The Voe case, filed on behalf of a sergeant in the D.C. Army National Guard who was denied the opportunity to serve as an officer and faces possible discharge from the United States armed services because he is living with HIV. These cases challenge the military’s discriminatory policies governing the enlistment, deployment, and promotion of service members living with HIV. For more information, READ: http://www.thebody.com/content/81327/court-rules-case-challenging-defense-departments-d.html

NASTAD Releases Medicaid 1115 Waivers Fact Sheets and 
Updated Interactive Map

NASTAD released two new fact sheets: Medicaid 1115 Waivers: Considerations for HIV and Hepatitis Programs and Medicaid 1115 Waivers: Exemptions for People Living with HIV and Hepatitis, as well as an updated version of its Medicaid Waiver Map. These new NASTAD resources are designed to help HIV and hepatitis stakeholders understand the shifting Medicaid landscape, help clients navigate these changes, and engage state-level decision makers to inform policies that protect people living with HIV and hepatitis from changes that can jeopardize access to affordable coverage and care. Several states are seeking “waivers” that roll back Medicaid protections and impose burdensome eligibility requirements such as work requirements and monthly premiums. Medicaid provides health coverage to millions of Americans, including eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities. Medicaid is administered by states, according to federal requirements. The program is funded jointly by states and the federal government. The federal agency that administers the Medicaid Program is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Some Medicaid waivers have already been approved by CMS. It is likely that more approvals will occur in the future.

What You Can Do

TAKE ACTION: It is very important that our elected officials hear from us to protect federal HIV funding for HIV prevention and care.  Speak truth to power by sharing your personal stories with your elected officials. It is vitally important to meet 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 general mid-term election happening this year:

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

Finally, PARTICIPATE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION(S) in your state: 11/6/18

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

What NMAC is Doing About It

• NMAC is working in coalition with Outserve-SLDN, Lambda Legal, The SERO Project, and HRC to push back on the congressional level to protect HIV positive Service Members.
• 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 x`of color. The full report can be found by visiting www.nmac.org/blueprint

 Have a policy question? E-mail us! We would like to help if we can. Mrose@nmac.org or SNelson@nmac.org