Important Happenings in HIV/Health Policy

Important Happenings in
HIV/Health Policy

Week Ending: May 4, 2018
By: Matthew Rose & Sable K. Nelson

Senate Hearing on FY19 HHS Funding This Week

On Thursday, May 10, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar will testify on HHS’s fiscal year 2019 (FY19) budget request beforethe Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations subcommittee. This appropriations bill provides funding for the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which spearheads HIV and STD prevention efforts, Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), which administers the Ryan White Program, the National Institute of Health, which coordinates various HIV-related research, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which provides services the around substance use and mental health. To watch the hearing live:
CLICK → https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/hearing-to-review-the-fy2019-budget-request-for-us-dept-of-health-and-human-services

Check Out the Kaiser Health Network’s ‘What the Health?’ Podcast on State Medicaid Changes, and Former HHS Secretary’s Tom Price’s Recent Comments

“Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, and Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo discuss the latest on states’ efforts to reshape their Medicaid programs, the kerfuffle over President Donald Trump’s medical records, and comments by former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about Congress’ repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s ‘individual mandate’ penalty. Rovner also interviews Harvard professor Robert Blendon about the complex politics of health in the coming midterm elections.” For more information:
LISTEN → https://khn.org/news/podcast-khns-what-the-health-medicaid-privacy-and-tom-prices-return/?utm_campaign=KHN%20-%20Weekly%20Edition&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=62690688&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Oued6IqrEOUgPVNRdtwi-GPFmBxbBLk4xRi-uc81Sca_teJtdsWhprUOZPyNK1c_egBXFUXERRtizTyEVKtChQOtP9Q&_hsmi=62690688

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 releaseda 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 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