A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows • Hacker News Board

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#91

Post by chimeracoder » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 12:13 AM UTC

wmeredith wrote: post #89

chimeracoder wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Showing prices up front would be the very least we could do to start to clean up this fraudulent billing mess that is healthcare here in the US. It would, but Medicare would never agree to that, because it would cut off a major source of indirect revenue for them.

Medicare is not a decision making body. What are you talking about?

> Medicare is not a decision making body. What are you talking about?

CMS absolutely is a "decision making body", with direct authority over a whole number of matters.

But even beyond its office authority granted by Congress, Medicare (both the people who run it and the people who generally support it) are incredibly influential as well, and they would use that influence to block any policy that would affect Medicare so negatively (even if it would be good for the public at large)

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#92

Post by voycey » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 7:15 AM UTC

jsperx wrote: post #72

chimeracoder wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but in the United States it remains quite expensive if you don’t have insurance. Not really - Gilead provides assistance programs for people who have private insurance, for people on public insurance, and for people who are uninsured (there are three separate assistance programs). The plan for people who have private insurance is the best (you end up paying $0/year for PrEP), and the plan for people who are uninsur…

I have personally paid $1700 out of pocket for a month’s supply of PrEP, despite insurance AND membership in Gilead’s “advancing access” co-pay assistance program. Gilead intended the program to cover about $300/mo, in order to cover your co-pay until your deductible is satisfied. That worked fine until this year, when UnitedHealthcare decided to re-class my card from co-pay assistance to a “manufacturer’s coupon” —…

The prices were similar here in Australia, friends who are on it were given instructions by their doctor on websites in South Africa and a particular brand name to purchase along with a prescription to get around it. Generic version but equally as effective. I believe now it is on the PBS here!

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#93

Post by thisiszilff » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 4:28 PM UTC

jschwartzi wrote: post #88

chimeracoder wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's still much safer to only have sex while in a monagamous relationship where you and your partner have been tested for HIV. And checking test results before having sex with someone is also a very safe practice that is really common. But in the end if you're often sleeping with people who you don't trust, PrEP can be worth the risk. Please stop spreading anti-PrEP misinformation. Statistically, it is literally sa…

Actually I've been googling around since you've said this, and I can find WHO and CDC booklets indicating that PrEP is generally safe. In fact, the WHO indicates that PrEP is as safe as placebo in the populations that have been studied. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/197906/WHO_H... It's interesting because some of the gay men I spoke with about PrEP seemed to think there were significant risks of ki…

There is risk for some men, but at least here, you go in regularlynfor checkups to ensure there are no problems. Only a small number have the side effects, and these discontinue treatment.