What is the future of PrEP under Trump 2.0?
PrEP advocates say that the threat of funding cuts and policy changes by the incoming power players could jeopardise PrEP access and the push toward ending the HIV epidemic. THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON UNCLOSETED MEDIA A NEW INVESTIGATIVE LGBTQIA+ FOCUSSED NEWS PUBLICATION. WORDS TIM MURPHY In 2022, the highly effective HIV prevention drug regimen known as PrEP (short for preexposure prophylaxis) was dealt a narrow blow.
In Texas, Reed O’Connor, a federal judge known to rule conservatively, decreed that a handful of employers did not have to follow an Affordable Care Act (ACA) rule mandating 100% insurance coverage for preventive HIV measures like PrEP.
The employers had argued that because PrEP was widely used by men who have sex with men (MSM), it violated the employers’ beliefs under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
One of the employers, Braidwood Management, is being represented by Gene Hamilton, who worked for the Trump administration’s Justice Department and is now Vice President of America First Legal, a conservative public interest organisation headed by Stephen Miller, who will serve as Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for policy.
