Tuesday, October 17, 2017

The ACA and Pre-Existing Conditions

I have always wondered how some people diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980's were able to pay for treatments and medicine revolving around their pre-existing conditions.  Through research, I came to realize that before the the Affordable Care Act, many people with these conditions struggled with coverage.  It is a huge contributor to the allowance of healthcare to people suffering with AIDS, Asthma, and Cancer.  The ACA has allowed no American to be denied healthcare who has a pre-existing health condition.  "The Access, Care, & Engagement TA Center provides tools and resources to support the enrollment of people living with HIV in health care coverage" (The Affordable Care Act and HIV/AIDS). This is a great center to have in order to guide HIV patients to the right path to finally get the healthcare coverage they have been longing for.

In terms of Medicaid expansion and eligibility, the ACA has allowed for the expansion of Medicaid to those with low incomes and below the poverty line.  It is said in the HIV.gov website, that today, Medicaid is the largest payer for HIV in the U.S. This is a fact I was surprised about, because you do not hear to much, publicly at least, about HIV and those who are affected still.  "In states that opt for Medicaid expansion, people living with HIV who meet the income threshold will no longer have to wait for an AIDS diagnosis in order to become eligible for Medicaid.  That means they can get into life-extending care and treatment before the disease has significantly damaged their immune system" (The Affordable Care Act and HIV/AIDS).  This is a great expansion that the ACA is allowing because it can help so many suffering AIDS victims.  However, the population under the poverty line do not benefit from this.  There is only so much Medicaid can fund, and if people cannot pay for needs such as blood tests and other testing, it will be hard for them to receive the care they need to stay alive.

Overall, the ACA has definitely been a huge contributor to the HIV/AIDS community.  It has given ample opportunities for coverage that was not given to the sick in the 80's.  The ACA is able to give people of the proper income the treatment they need in order to become healthy and live a normal life as best they can. 



https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/policies-issues/the-affordable-care-act-and-hiv-aids   

2 comments:

  1. I think the reason that you really don't hear about it is because while it's still a problem, it's only 0.002% to 0.04% of the US population has it depending on who's stats you're using. The other reason is that Anti-Retroviral therapies are now extremely effective. So much so that you have better clinical outcomes and a longer expected life span if you have HIV than if you have diabetes. They now estimate that about 10% of the US population has diabetes. So from a policy and economic standpoint, we're going to get much more bang for our proverbial buck if we spend our emotional and political capital on reform and policy efforts that will address obesity vs. HIV. It's unfortunate because there are still 40,000ish people that are newly infected annually, but at the national level that's not enough to get anyone's blood pressure up to a point where they're willing to take action.

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  2. When I was your age - 1991 or so - we were still in the midst of the epidemic. Everyone was talking about it. It was really frightening. Going along with Josh's comment, HIV is now controllable to a degree, whereas in the 80's, it was a short-term death sentence. Here's a video about the realities of growing old with HIV: https://youtu.be/j_niqExXrCI

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The End of It All

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