PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Medications that help prevent HIV are under a microscope, as researchers look at just how much impact a change in their cost would create.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Professor Jalpa Doshi says pre-exposure prophylaxis (PReP) medications are key in driving down the United States’ HIV infection rate.
“For patients who take these medications continuously, their chance of getting HIV could be reduced by nearly 99%,” said Doshi.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Doshi says, PReP meds are free to people at risk of contracting HIV — but a suit against the ACA threatens that availability. The Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra case, which originated in Texas, argues the ACA’s mandate for insurers to cover preventive services is unconstitutional, and that required coverage of PReP, in particular, violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
So researchers from Penn and Johns Hopkins University conducted a study on how the use of PReP meds would be impacted if patients had to pay out of pocket. The results were published this week in the journal Health Affairs.
“Going from $0 just up to $10 nearly doubled the risk that patients would not pick up their PReP prescription,” said Doshi. Researchers also found the rate of HIV infections in people who stopped using PReP grew.
“The rate of new HIV infections in the following year was two to three times higher among patients who did not pick up their PReP prescription compared to those who did,” she explained.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently has a goal of reducing new HIV infections by 90% by 2030. If a co-pay was levied on patients, Doshi says it would come down to local leaders stepping in.
“I think state lawmakers should come in to try and protect no-cost coverage for preventive services like PReP.”