Increasing Prices, Increasing Stress

In a season of economic instability, budget cuts, and threats of a government shutdown people at the margins of our society – poor, living with HIV/AIDS - are often the first to feel the hit. Since I have been working at Rosehedge/Multifaith Works I have witnessed the cut of more and more supportive services that help maintain the physical and emotional health of our clients. Housing, transportation, and mental health programs are vital components of a healthy life for the men and women we serve. Dismantling any one piece of the network of care can cause many to experience great anxiety and upset the balance they need to survive.

Recently, Gilead Sciences Inc. announced that they will raise the prices of several of its top selling HIV medications Atripla (5.1%), Turvada, and Emtriva (7.9%). “Price increases like the ones Gilead announced — on top of 2009 and 2010 increases— are unreasonable, particularly in light of the fact that Atripla, Truvada and Emtriva are older drugs that contain no new formulations,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Such increases do harm to already strained programs such as Medicare and contribute to medical inflation—which is already ballooning. With only a 2% rise in inflation last year, there simply is no justification for these most recent increases.”

Our clients seldom have other options for affordable medications. Their physical and emotional health is often at the hand of the drug manufacturers. When businesses, governments, and individuals make decisions that threaten those in need it is incumbent upon those of us who can to raise our voices in opposition.                                 

Bertram Johnson, CareTeam Program Director