THE HILL
Lydia Wheeler
Original Article: bit.ly/1tGUx2W
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants Medicare to cover routine HIV testing.
Under the proposed rule, people ages 15 to 65 will be able to get annual HIV screening. Adolescents under the age of 15 and adults over the age of 65 can receive an annual voluntary screening if they have an increased risk for HIV.
According to the CMS, people with an increased risk of contracting HIV include men who have sex with men; men and women who have unprotected sex; men and women who exchange sex for money or drugs; those whose past partners were HIV infected, intravenous drug users or bisexuals; and those with a history of blood transfusions between 1978 and 1985.
Medicare coverage for pregnant women will not change. Women will still receive three voluntary HIV screenings — one when the pregnancy is diagnosed, another when the woman is in her third trimester and a third at labor.
The AIDS Institute, which has been lobbying for the rule change, said of the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., 168,000 are unaware of their infection.
Full text of article available at link below: bit.ly/1tGUx2W
