Biden administration orders insurance companies to cover all costs associated with PrEP

Truvada for PrEP, an HIV antiretroviral drug
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Department of Labor has announced new guidance that will instruct insurance companies to cover the entire cost of prescribing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) without charging the recipients of the prescription who are insured.

Within the next 60 days, insurance companies will have to make sure that they include PrEP in a class of preventative drugs that they can’t charge a co-pay, deductible, or other cost-sharing charges for. Otherwise, they’ll be out of accordance with the Biden administration’s interpretation of federal law.

Related: People living with HIV have about the same early death rate as everyone else, study finds

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 passed under the Obama-Biden administration, in part, updating the Public Health Service Act to require healthcare plans and insurers to cover the cost of certain preventative services.

In 2019, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), decided that prescribing PrEP to people that are at high risk of contracting HIV should be considered such a service. Yet, it wasn’t until Biden took office in January that this policy decision was implemented.

In a document issued on July 19 regarding the implementation of Affordable Care Act regulations, the Department of Labor responded…

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