HIV
Medical Association Supports Public Health Plan Option
 As
Congressional debate about health care reform legislation heats up, the HIV Medical
Association (HIVMA) last week issued a statement affirming its support for a public
health plan option. |
Below
is the text of the organization's recent news release. HIVMA
Supports Public Plan Option to
Ensure Patients' Needs are Met Arlington,
VA -- June 15, 2009 -- As Congress drafts health care reform legislation, HIV
clinicians urge lawmakers to include a public plan option to ensure affordable
access to comprehensive care for HIV patients
-- nearly 30 percent of whom have no insurance. The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA)
believes that a public plan option can help offer everyone the chance to benefit
from early and reliable access to lifesaving HIV care and treatment. "HIV
treatment is one of the most effective medical interventions available today,
but it requires ongoing access to high-cost medications and services over the
course of a patient's lifetime," said Michael S. Saag, MD, FIDSA, HIVMA chair-elect.
"People with chronic conditions like HIV are not attractive to most private
insurers." HIVMA
is particularly concerned that private insurers will discourage HIV patients from
enrolling in their plans by excluding HIV clinicians and programs from their provider
networks. HIV treatment delivered by an experienced HIV provider results in better
patient outcomes and more cost-effective care. Only
17 percent of HIV patients have private insurance coverage, according to the Kaiser
Family Foundation. Fifty-four percent rely on Medicaid and/or Medicare, while
29 percent are completely uninsured. Even if potential safeguards were in place
requiring private insurance plans to include HIV health care providers, it would
be difficult to ensure the adequacy of HIV provider networks in the numerous private
plans that likely will be available across the country. "The
availability of a public plan option will ensure a reliable coverage option is
available to people with HIV no matter where they live in the U.S.," said
Arlene Bardeguez, MD, MPH, HIVMA chair. "A public plan option will better
ensure all of our patients have the opportunity to benefit from HIV treatment
and live healthy and productive lives." Today,
HIVMA released a position statement, which has also been adopted by the Infectious
Diseases Society of America (IDSA), outlining additional reasons a public plan
option is so important for people with HIV:
A public plan option would offer greater dependability, consistency and security
than private plans, which can close, merge or change benefits at will.
Even in a well-regulated private insurance market, such as the Medicare Part D
prescription drug program, private plans have limited patients' access to drugs
by charging high co-payments for HIV medications and imposing burdensome prior
authorization requirements on non-HIV medications. The purchasing power of a public
plan option would offer greater opportunities to lower the cost of these drugs
and other services.
Traditionally, public programs, such as Medicare, have been leaders in developing
and supporting innovative chronic disease management approaches, such as the medical
home model. The coordinated, comprehensive approach offered by medical homes is
critical to keeping many people with HIV in treatment and addressing their complex
health care needs.
HIVMA
also released a set of health care reform principles for meeting the needs of
people living with HIV. The principles outline the needs any national health care
reform plan must meet to ensure HIV patients receive the proper care, stem the
spread of the epidemic, improve care quality, and reduce costs. HIVMA
is the professional home for more than 3,600 physicians, scientists and other
health care professionals dedicated to the field of HIV/AIDS. Nested within the
Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), HIVMA promotes quality in HIV care
and advocates policies that ensure a comprehensive and humane response to the
AIDS pandemic informed by science and social justice. IDSA is a professional society
representing more than 8,600 physicians and scientists who specialize in infectious
diseases. For more information, visit our websites: www.hivma.org
and www.idsociety.org.
6/23/09 Source
HIV
Medicine Association. HIVMA Supports Public Plan Option to Ensure Patients' Needs
are Met. Press release. June 15, 2009.
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