Excerpt from PBS News Hour:
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday challenging the constitutionality of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires most private health insurance plans to cover preventive care at no cost to the patient. As Laura Barrón-López reports, the case could have a profound impact on the health care millions of Americans use to stay healthy and prevent disease.
Dr. Kyle Benda, Whitman-Walker Health: “PrEP and preventive care is kind of the cornerstone of what we do here at Whitman-Walker.”
Laura Barron-Lopez: “Dr. Kyle Benda is a director of medical operations at Whitman-Walker Health, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that offers primary care and specializes in HIV treatment. He credits PrEP with helping to reduce new cases of HIV in the nation’s capital by 12 percent from 2012 to 2021.”
Dr. Kyle Benda: “While our HIV treatments are amazing and life with HIV is very different than I think what a lot of folks may think of, for the health of our population, prevention of HIV is paramount.”
Laura Barron-Lopez: “Still, the cost of the drug is so high that, without financial help, for most people like Preston Mitchum, PrEP would be out of reach.”
Listen to the full interview here:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/free-access-to-dozens-of-preventive-care-treatments-at-risk-in-supreme-court-case
