HIV prevention drugs to be available prescription-free in California

HIV Prevention Drugs - Pills and bottle

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to give pharmacists authority to dispense these medications. To start the week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill providing pharmacists the authority to dispense Truvada and other HIV prevention drugs to patients without a doctor’s prescription. The new California bill will make it possible for pharmacists to dispense PrEP and PEP drugs. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) can play important roles in preventing HIV infection among patients potentially exposed to it. Patients in California will no longer require a doctor’s prescription…

Read More

Mutual of Omaha lawsuit pushes insurer to cover patients taking Truvada

Mutual of Omaha - lawsuit

New applicants taking the HIV prevention medication had previously been denied policies. Mutual of Omaha settled discrimination allegations filed by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office. The insurance company has agreed to stop denying applicants who use HIV prevention medications such as Truvada. At the same time, the insurance company settled a second lawsuit in the state regarding a similar situation. In the second lawsuit, Mutual of Omaha settled with an unidentified man. The insurance company turned down the man’s long term care insurance application when he acknowledged that he took…

Read More

Men taking Truvada often rejected for disability insurance policy

Disability insurance policy - Men rejected for HIV prevention drug

Instances men turned down for coverage based on HIV prevention use are increasingly common. Americans taking the prescription drug Truvada are finding it harder to purchase a disability insurance policy. Truvada is an HIV prevention drug meant to help protect a user from becoming infected. The Affordable Care Act bans health insurance companies from discriminating based on sexual orientation. That said, the states themselves each have their own regulations for what is allowed to determine eligibility for certain specific types of coverage such as life, long-term care, or a disability…

Read More

Insurance denial case involving gay men in New York to be investigated by state

HIV insurance denial discrimination

State financial regulators will be looking into reports of discrimination against homosexual men. New York financial regulators are looking into recent reports of insurance denial involving gay men. The story originated in the New York Times and stated that gay men were being denied long-term care, disability and life insurance because of a preventative medication they were taking. The men were taking a medication to help boost their protection against H.I.V. when they applied for coverage. If the insurance denial allegations are true, it may mean that the insurers’ practices…

Read More