A national health insurance campany has announced that it will no longer cover the drug Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent contracting HIV.
The insurance company, Assurant Health, have notified customers who had been taking Truvada (comprising the antiretrovirals tenofovir and emtricitabine) as PrEP, reports POZ.com. The insurer has stated that it would end coverage of the med in July.
“Prophylactic treatment is not a covered benefit as listed in the Exclusion Section of your member contract,” read one customer’s notice. “As a courtesy we will allow two additional months of prescription coverage for your Truvada prescription. This means you will continue to receive prescription drug card benefits for Truvada at CVSC Specialty Pharmacy until July 1, 2015.”
Jim Pickett, the director of prevention advocacy and gay men’s health at AIDS Foundation of Chicago, told POZ that he knows of several other people across the country with Assurant Health who have learned their PrEP coverage was ending.
“Assurant Health’s recent decision to now refuse coverage of Truvada if prescribed as PrEP—an FDA-approved, CDC-endorsed, highly effective and needed HIV prevention intervention—is unprecedented, unacceptable and dangerous,” Pickett said. “It reeks of contempt for, and discrimination of, people vulnerable to HIV. It’s bad for the health of individuals, and it’s bad for the health of our communities. AIDS Foundation of Chicago, with fellow advocates and allies from across the country, is mobilizing now to take a strong stand against this action.”
