Implications of the Affordable Care Act on Access to Effective HIV Services in Rhode Island

摘要

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a major pub- lic health issue in the United States with over 1.2 million people living with the disease and approximately 50,000 new cases identified annually. 1 Considerable progress has been made in the last few decades in treating the disease but progress still needs to be made in combating transmission of the virus and building the infrastructure necessary to treat prevalent cases going forward. The Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) is a CDC ini- tiative to assess the health care needs of people who are infected with the HIV virus. 2 Data from this Project have been very useful in understanding the multiple health care needs of the HIV population including comorbid conditions such as hepatitis C and tuberculosis. MMP data also address the psychosocial needs of the HIV/AIDS population and demonstrate the importance of comprehensive health cov- erage for this vulnerable population.