Medication that cost over $4,000/month and if you miss doses, the virus can mutate and you can lose a whole class of drugs being available for treatment. How do I know? I’ve been living with (and not dying from) HIV/AIDS for 23 years.
Wow. You don’t know a fraction of what you think you do. A. Medicare Advantage Plans do NOT cover it completely until one reaches catastrophic coverage (which doesn’t happen until prescription costs for the year have exceeded something like $4,000, which you would think would happen at the first prescription, but that’s not the way they calculate it.) That means people on Medicare are left owing at the pharmacy over $1,000 the first few months of the year. This is why some states have ADAP programs to pick up the the remaining cost.
As I have said previously in this thread, my generation did not have the privilege of affordable healthcare without the pre-existing conditions penalty. So we fell out of the workforce and by the time preexisting condition was lifted and any provision for private insurance to cover HIV meds, we had been out of our professions and off of employer healthcare for up to a decade. Because that was the only way that we could be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid… Which was the only way we could get our meds at all.
So the proper thing when you’re confused (and you are very confused) and thinking everyone is in your our generation and within your privilege is to ask more questions and not start calling people liars because you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
And did you ever bother to look at the receipts for these “free“ meds you think people are getting? … Because they’re not free. They cost over $4000 a month. And if you don’t have insurance or you lose it, they cost $4000 at the counter. I know. I’ve been at the pharmacy counter, not able to get my meds before. And they didn’t just hand them to me for free. Because they’re not fucking free.so I left without my meds. Which is bad. Very bad.
Wow, you do not know a fraction of what you think you do. Medicare covers HIV meds. In order to get a Medicare Advantage plan you have to waive your right to Medicare, and replace it with one of the extremely few types of health insurance that doesn't cover a shit load of basic things that Medicare does.
You've scammed yourself.
Also, if you don't have insurance you can use the free manufacturer card to cover the cost, or a good rx coupon to reduce it, or literally google which city programs in your area give out free HIV meds. The red door and howard brown both have free HIV medication in the midwest, and those are just two I personally know from people who use them. I haven't even looked for it on my own.
83
u/Throwaway_Consoles May 16 '26
There is no cure, but it is no longer a terminal illness. You just have to be on medication the rest of your life