Law in Contemporary Society

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TheAffordableCareActAndHIV 5 - 01 Apr 2012 - Main.AustenBrandford
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 As the Supreme Court wraps up oral arguments about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, we are afforded an opportunity to understand the benefits provided to marginalized groups like individuals who suffer from HIV.

According to a brief submitted by Lambda Legal as amici curiae supporting the Minimum Coverage Requirement (MCR) issue of the Affordable Care Act, "When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010) (as amended), was enacted, only 17% of Americans with HIV/AIDS had private health insurance, and nearly 30% had neither public nor private insurance". See AIDS.gov, Health Care Reform and HIV/AIDS: How Does the Affordable Care ActImpact People Living with HIV/AIDS? 2 (Jan. 14, 2011) (“Health Care Reform and HIV/AIDS)."

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 This shame has been said to lead to a decrease in HIV testing (ignorance is bliss?), which can be largely to blame for the recent increase in diagnoses among young men. If courts and legislators better understood that their decisions regarding the treatment of people with HIV actually play a role in the proliferation of this horrible disease, they would hopefully be more careful. Unfortunately, they haven’t had a chance to walk in my shoes and see the painful effects in person.
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>		-- AustenBrandford - 31 Mar 2012
 I noticed your comment on outdated legislation from the 1980s and 1990s. I encountered one of those outdated laws in the immigration field, when trying to obtain a green card for an HIV-positive client. Though HIV already existed in the United States as an endemic disease and the CDC determined that this change would have little effect on transmission rates, the government did not lift its ban against HIV-positive immigrants until 2010. The surprising delay here, even in a field that tends to move slowly, suggests that efforts to reduce stigma are still live political issues.

Revision 5r5 - 01 Apr 2012 - 19:17:10 - AustenBrandford
Revision 4r4 - 01 Apr 2012 - 19:12:22 - DavidHirsch
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