Oct 20, 2017 - 2017-2018 Board of Directors ... IDSA Board Representative ... Thank you for your leadership in crafting
2017-2018 Board of Directors Chair Melanie Thompson, MD AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA) Internal Medicine Chair-Elect W. David Hardy, MD Whitman-Walker Infectious Diseases Vice Chair Judith Feinberg, MD, FIDSA West Virginia Univ. Behavioral Med & Psychiatry Infectious Diseases Immediate Past Chair Wendy Armstrong, MD, FIDSA Emory University Infectious Diseases
October 20, 2017 Senator Lamar Alexander Chair Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Washington, DC 20510
Senator Patty Murray Ranking Member Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray: I am writing on behalf of the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) to offer our endorsement of The Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017. HIVMA represents more than 5,000 physicians and other medical providers working on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic in communities across the country.
IDSA Board Representative Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc, FIDSA Emory University Infectious Diseases Michelle S. Cespedes, MD, MS Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Infectious Diseases Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH NYC Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene Infectious Diseases Donna Futterman, MD Albert Einstein College of Medicine Adolescent/Pediatric Infectious Diseases Marwan S. Haddad, MD, MPH Community Health Center Inc. Family Medicine Colleen F. Kelley, MD, MPH Emory University Infectious Diseases Lynsay MacLaren, MPH, MPAS, PA-C Whitman-Walker Health Advanced Practice Practitioner James M. Sosman, MD Univ of Wisconsin School of Medicine Internal Medicine Alice C. Thornton, MD, FIDSA Univ of Kentucky School of Medicine Infectious Diseases William Towner, MD, FIDSA Kaiser Permanente Internal Medicine Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, FIDSA Massachusetts General Hospital Infectious Diseases
The Marketplaces (and the Medicaid expansion) established under the Affordable Care Act provided unprecedented access to healthcare coverage for our patients with HIV and millions of others living with pre-existing conditions who were denied or priced out of coverage prior to the ACA’s health insurance reforms. We are deeply concerned that abruptly ending the cost-sharing payments coupled with a substantially shortened open enrollment period and significant decreases in federal support for marketing and navigator assistance during open enrollment would jeopardize the health of tens of thousands of individuals with HIV who rely on Marketplace coverage. We have made remarkable progress in the treatment and prevention of HIV. With reliable access to comprehensive medical care and prescription drugs, persons with HIV can stay healthy and keep the virus under control, thus allowing them to live a near normal lifespan and reducing the risk of transmitting HIV to virtually zero. Stable and affordable healthcare coverage is important to support the uninterrupted access to medical care and treatment that effective management of HIV requires. Failure to take action by addressing market stabilization issues not only will harm the individuals with HIV who lose their health coverage or are no longer able to afford it but also will result in increased numbers of new HIV infections, subverting attempts to control and eliminate our domestic HIV epidemic. Sadly, this will especially penalize the Southeastern U.S. where the majority of persons with HIV now live and the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses are found, and with Medicaid expansion rare, where Marketplace coverage is often the only option for health coverage. Thank you for your leadership in crafting this important bi-partisan legislation that would help to avert a dangerous destabilization of the Marketplaces that 10.3 million Americans, including many people living with HIV, count on for their healthcare coverage. Please contact the HIVMA executive director Andrea Weddle at
[email protected] or (703) 299-0915 if we can be of assistance. Sincerely,
Ira B. Wilson, MD, MSc Brown Univ School of Public Health Internal Medicine Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Liaison Michelle Collins-Ogle, MD Warren-Vance Community Health Center, Inc. Pediatric Infectious Diseases Executive Director Andrea Weddle, MSW
Melanie Thompson, MD Chair, HIV Medicine Association
