HIV PrEP insurance/drug co shenanigans
One does not have to dig too far to find examples of drug company or insurance company shenanigans. A recent article documented a lack of access to HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for large numbers of people, a significant public health issue (see HIV PrEP shenanigans JAMA2023 in dropbox or doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.42781). Thanks to Jen Brody for bringing this to my attention Details : -- the goal of this study was to assess qualified health plan (QHP) coverage of PrEP formulations -- QHPs are health insurance plans that are certified by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also referred to as Obamacare) -- there are two PrEP formulations on the market, an older one TDF/FTC, and a newer one TAF/FTC (see the commentary below for more information on these two products) -- this was a cross-sectional study analyzing QHPs in the US from 2018 to 2020, prior authorization (PA) requirements for the medications, insurance company tiering of these two PrEP medicat