Wrangling Affordable Drug Pricing and HCV Elimination Under the New White House Administration
TAGline • 2017Trump’s early tough talk on drug pricing is now a pro-industry, anti-regulation GOP dreamscape By Bryn Gay Unaffordable drug prices were a hot-button topic on the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign trail and remain a significant source of frustration among Democrats and Republicans in Congress. This common ground, backed by public opinion (see sidebar), can be…
Ending the Epidemic without Medicaid Expansion?
TAGline • 2017How U.S. southern states are moving ahead without full health care coverage By Jeremiah Johnson & Kenyon Farrow Activists and health departments around the country continue to advance strategies to ‘End the Epidemic’ (EtE) in their jurisdictions, yet a central question remains. Are these ambitious plans appropriate in all U.S. jurisdictions, particularly given uneven access…
HCV Pipeline: DAAs and Diagnostics in the Pangenotypic Era
Pipeline • 2017July 2017 By Annette Gaudino INTRODUCTION The continued development of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV) has brought both multigenotypic and pangenotypic regimens to market, with more on the horizon. These simpler-to- prescribe regimens potentially eliminate the need for genotype testing, have shown improved efficacy in previously difficult-to-treat patients, and hold the promise…
Preventive Technologies: Antiretroviral and Vaccine Development
Pipeline • 2017July 2017 By Jeremiah Johnson and Richard Jefferys INTRODUCTION Recent advances in the research, development, and implementation of biomedical HIV prevention—primarily in the form of treatment as prevention (TasP) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)/ emtricitabine (FTC) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)—already appear to be bearing fruit in addressing complex HIV epidemics. At this year’s Conference on…
Resisting the Coming Austerity: Medicaid in the Crosshairs
TAGline • 2017Lingering Republican threats to the ACA and Medicaid do no favors for America’s working poor By Annette Gaudino The 2016 election is in large part a story of the failure of existing health policy to adequately address a health crisis among the working class. The largest voter margins in favor of Trump comprise many…
Breaking Down Walls in Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric
TAGline • 2017How the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant stance threatens human rights, public health, and the lives of people living with TB By Erica Lessem and Suraj Madoori Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the current presidential administration and the campaign that led Donald Trump to the White House is the wall. In 2015, then-candidate Trump first announced his…
Everybody In, Nobody Out
TAGline • 2017By Tim Horn Arguments favoring universal health care (UHC) are easy. Achieving political consensus as to the best strategy to achieve this is considerably more vexing. This is particularly true in the U.S., where the Affordable Care Act (ACA) patchwork of legislation and regulations has faced a barrage of executive and legislative attacks since the…
Coverage Isn’t Care
TAGline • 2017Globalizing the insurance model will harm global public health By Annette Gaudino In the New York City of the 1850s, firefighting was a private enterprise. Homeowners and landlords purchased insurance plans that included protection from a dedicated fire brigade. When a fire broke out, brigades would arrive on the scene and look for an insurance…
Remarks by Erica Lessem on TB research at the WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB
Webinar • 2017Remarks by Erica Lessem, Deputy Executive Director – TB Project Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era Moscow, Russian Federation November 17, 2017 Using lessons learnt from HIV, how do you see civil society and advocacy communities’ role in helping increase financial commitment by the global community to close the gap…
US Health & Human Services (HHS) Strategic Plan FY 2018-2022: TAG Comments to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Letters • 2017TAG comments submitted to the Strategic Planning Team at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation regarding the HHS Strategic Plan FY 2018-2022. The HHS Strategic Plan should set a precedent for reducing the burden of disease nationally through its focus on access to affordable treatment, advancement of research, implementation of evidence-based interventions, expansion of populations served, and inclusion of all stakeholders.