UPDATE 6/28/12 – 11:05am
The Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act gives States the ability to opt out of Medicaid expansion. This decision potentially hurts lower income Nebraska families and Nebraskans living with HIV.
It’s time for Nebraska to step up and move forward. WE MUST tell our lawmakers that WE WANT the Medicaid expansion. To end HIV in Nebraska we must accept the planned Medicaid expansion. Now that it is clear that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional let’s pull together and fully implement it. More on this to follow – JD
Original Post
Upholding the Affordable Care Act is a major victory for people with HIV and countless others who have been shut out of the current health insurance market. By leveling the playing field for people to obtain health insurance coverage, the Affordable Care Act removes a major roadblock to ending AIDS in America.
Nebraska AIDS Project applauds the U.S. Supreme Court ruling today finding the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act legal and constitutional. We are pleased the Supreme Court’s ruling will continue the already existing benefits and protections helping young adults, Medicare beneficiaries, the elderly, people with disabilities, children, and everyone from unreasonable health insurance rate increases. The Supreme Court decision also authorizes states to implement the system that allows Americans and American families to purchase affordable, comprehensive health insurance coverage beginning in 2014.
Recognizing the Affordable Care Act as the law of the land gives people living with HIV access to the reliable health coverage that they need to seek and maintain continuous care, without worry of interruptions in their medical care caused by inadequate coverage or an inability to pay.
Health reform implementation must now proceed full steam ahead. Congress should acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act by fully funding health reform and ending efforts to repeal it. Progress must not be held hostage by politics.
Education and outreach on what the Affordable Care Act does and does NOT do should occur on a much wider scale across the country so that Americans have accurate information about the law and how it will benefit them.
WHY THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IS SO IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE WITH HIV
- The Affordable Care Act addresses the failings of the current health system by giving states the option to expand Medicaid to all low-income people, creating open, competitive, fair marketplaces for uninsured and underinsured individuals and families to purchase private insurance and providing subsidies to lower income individuals to make insurance affordable.
- An estimated 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the U.S. and need access to high-quality, uninterrupted health care to stay healthy, reduce new HIV infections, and cut long-term health care costs.
- Science has provided the tools to effectively treat HIV disease and to make significant headway against HIV in the U.S. Research clearly shows that with early access to HIV treatment people with HIV stay healthier and are significantly less likely to transmit HIV to their partners.
- National health care reform puts us on the road to an AIDS-free generation by dramatically expanding access to medical care, life-saving HIV treatment and screening. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy sets a new course for an AIDS-free generation.
- Today, around 50% of people with HIV are in regular medical care and only 25% are being effectively treated with HIV medications. Only around 13% of people living with HIV have private insurance coverage and nearly 25% are uninsured.
Today is a great day for the over 2,200 people living with HIV in Nebraska and their families.
More news and analysis to follow. Please contact Jordan Delmundo, Policy and Program Director, at 402-552-9260 if you have questions.
