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VIDEO: Uneven rollout of Affordable Care Act increases health disparities in HIV
The health disparities associated with HIV have been underscored, and even heightened, in some areas of the United States with the uneven rollout of the Affordable Care Act, according to Chris Beyrer, MD, professor of epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-director, Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research, and president, International AIDS Society.
Beyrer reviews the Massachusetts universal health care law as an example of “some of the best outcomes” regarding health insurance coverage and treatment for people with HIV. He juxtaposes this with the incomplete rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), particularly among “socially marginal, socially vulnerable” patients with HIV, and the “disproportionate burden” of HIV among African Americans, the poor, and men who have sex with men and transgender women in states where the ACA has not been fully incorporated. He also highlights the “enormous preventive impact” of treatment.
The “very compelling” data from Massachusetts demonstrate that increasing access to treatment “really can help turn around the epidemic,” according to Beyrer.