Cost-Cutting Measures May Cause Treatment Delays for PLWHA

According to a story from the News & Observer, a Medicaid panel is hearing options for extra budget cuts. These cuts may include a requirement for prior authorization for doctors to prescribe HIV/AIDS medication.

Over the summer, NCAAN worked hard advocating in the state legislature to make sure there was no requirement for prior authorization for people living with HIV/AIDS, and we succeeded.

However, the state budget requires more than $350 million in cuts. Further, because the federal government gives $2 to the state Medicaid program for every $1 made by the state, this means the actual cuts to the North Carolina state Medicaid program will total more than $1 billion. A Medicaid panel outlined where these cost-cutting measures would come from included a variety of things, including a requirement for prior authorization for HIV/AIDS medications.

Prior Authorization impedes access by requiring doctors to get authorization from Medicaid before prescribing these life-saving drugs. Studies show that prior authorization requirements significantly delay access to these life-saving medications. Any delay in treatment caused by these requirements threatens the lives and health of people living with HIV/AIDS. Treatment interruptions can also create drug-resistant strains of HIV. Also, A new UNC-led multinational study shows early treatment with HIV/AIDS medications may reduce transmission rates by up to 96%.

We need you to stand with NCAAN in opposing any prior authorization requirement for HIV/AIDS medications, and the threat it poses to people living with HIV/AIDS.