About Insuring Your Health
KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series聽, which explores health care coverage and costs.
To contact Michelle with a question or comment,聽.
A. No, it won’t be required, not at this time. Earlier this month the CDC released new聽 recommending that people who are at substantial risk of becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, take a daily pill called Truvada. This “pre-exposure prophylaxis” approach can prevent HIV infection in more than 90 percent of cases.
Although insurance typically covers the drug, it’s expensive, with an annual price tag of at least $10,000, and that can mean high copayments for health plan members.
Under the health law, most health plans are required to cover without any cost sharing those preventive services that are recommended by the .
The task force, a nonpartisan group of medical experts,聽 related to clinical preventive services and makes recommendations about their use.
At this time, the task force聽 for people aged 15 to 65.聽It doesn’t have a recommendation on preventive medications for HIV/AIDS, nor is any such , according to a spokesperson for the task force.
“The task force bases its recommendations on a thorough review of the current evidence. When making a recommendation, the task force considers the recommendations of other groups, including the CDC,” the spokesperson said.
Please send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column to questions@kffhealthnews.org.