Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits > Insurance, Benefits Programs & HIV
Advice needed for the uninsured.
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Hellraiser:
Alright so, it's been a really long time since I've posted here, but here's a little catching up.
March of 2017 I quit my job and began a career swap. I'm now making good money in IT, but I am a contractor and thus without health insurance. I last took my meds in 2017, and thought by now I would definitely be insured again. With that said, I'm now looking into Obamacare options, but none of them in Alabama (where I now live) seem to cover HIV meds at all. ADAP doesn't seem to be an option because it requires you to be no more than 300% above the poverty line. Federal Poverty limit is about $12,000 for a single man and that is only 36k or 48k if it's 400%. Either way I make more than that. Obamacare costs about 300-600 a month, which is doable, but then requires me to hit the deductible of 6-12k a year in order to kick in for meds not covered. I'm in a pickle on how to solve this without being employed full time.
life2:
What meds are you on? Have you looked into ordering them online?
Expat1:
All insurers with Obamacare must carry HIV meds.
The copay cards with various Pharma companies will pay for the deductable and your portion of the meds. Check the various Pharma copay cards.
Outside of that, look to self importing your meds from India. There is a British site iwantprepnow that lists several companies that ship HIV drugs internationally. In Britian it is perfectly legal to source HIV drugs for personal use. It is less clear on FDA regs which are clearly pro big pharma, however most people how source their drugs in India, appear to get them OK.
Ptrk3:
I can't write that I understand all the nuances of your situation and all the ramifications, other than what has been suggested to you about co-pay assistance cards and how they may apply to you to reduce your costs. Those cards can be enormously useful and make a huge difference.
Search with "google" your current medication and any co-pay assistance that may be available to you, or, in the alternate, search co-pay assistance cards that may be available to you if you change medication to suit your economic (and insurance) needs (there are many alternative medications available these days, as you likely know).
One thing I can write with cetainity, though, is this: be mindful of the importance of adherence to any antiretroviral regimen. Make it a priority to be on medication routinely. Do not continue with gaps in antiretroviral medication.
Please take care of yourself.
MitchMiller:
Hellraiser, when you say the Obamacare plans don't cover HIV meds, I'm wondering if you're using the button on the healthcare.gov web page that allows you to check if your drugs are covered.
If so, here's what I found. I'm in Nevada. When the new plans were previewed on the Healthcare.gov web site, a couple weeks before open enrollment, I researched United Healthcare plans (Health Plan of Nevada) and found they didn't cover HIV drugs... or at least that's what the web site told me. I then went directly to the United Healthcare web site and found the formulary list where HIV drugs were stated as covered. The Healthcare.gov website had a problem. When open enrollment began, the problem had been fixed.
If you're still looking around for a plan, you should try calling the provider directly. As the previous poster stated, Obamacare plans are required to cover HIV drugs.