Federal Updates
Covid updates
There have been a lot of updates with the COVID response this month due to the surging delta variant. Positive Women’s Network -USA is here to help you unpack it all, so let’s get started!
First, new information was released about a third shot for individuals who are immunocompromised, including some people living with HIV. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Click to read our full statement. Please also take a moment to take this survey about your experience and the COVID-19 vaccine.
The federal eviction moratorium was extended days after it initially expired, following a protest led by Rep. Cori Bush. This moratorium only covered counties experiencing “substantial” or “high” levels of transmission and was supposed to be in effect until October 3. However, on August 26, the Supreme Court ruled that the CDC did not have the authority to order such a ban, meaning renters are no longer protected from eviction at the federal level (though some states and localities have their own separate eviction moratoria).
You can find information on accessing rental payment assistance and avoiding eviction here.
Finally, President Biden also extended student loan relief through January 31, 2022, and has stated that this will be the final extension of student loan relief. No interest will accrue on student loans during this period. The administration is also discussing several additional reforms to the student loan process but has not yet indicated that it is willing to agree to the wide-scale cancellation of student loans.
Health Care Access
Kaiser Family Foundation report on the health care system and LGBTQ people
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report and accompanying column on the experiences of LGBTQ folks and the health care system. One big takeaway from this is that over a third of LGBTQ people say they have had a negative experience with a provider over the last two years. This compares to just a fifth of non-LGBTQ people.
Coupled with other information we know about LGBTQ folks–that they are more likely to be low-income and have a chronic health condition or a disability–this is especially concerning. In particular, many transgender women—an estimated 42% of whom are living with HIV–may face difficulty in accessing affirming health care. While KFF calls for more research and data on the topic, providers should also begin to educate themselves on providing culturally relevant and competent care to LGBTQ individuals.
Medicaid Saves Lives Act introduced in Congress
The Medicaid Saves Lives Act was introduced last month in the Senate by Senators Raphael Warnock, Tammy Baldwin, and Jon Ossoff. It was later introduced in the House of Representatives as well. If passed, this bill would provide health care coverage to more than 4 million Americans who were previously denied access to affordable health insurance because their states refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
This would allow individuals in these states to realize the benefits of Medicaid expansion, including access to preventative health care services; improve health outcomes and prevent premature deaths; lower costs for uncompensated care, which would in turn reduce hospital and provider closures; and increased economic mobility. Many of the states that have yet to expand Medicaid are in the South, which accounts for 51% of new HIV cases annually, although just 38% of the U.S. population lives there.
Economic Justice
HOPWA funding announcement
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it would be providing more than $27 million to 31 local Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) programs over three years. These funds will assist low- and no- income people living with HIV or AIDS and their families access housing and supportive services like case management, mental health services, substance abuse services, and employment training. Some of the grantees are organizations based in Missouri, New York, and Washington.
In other HOPWA news, the appropriations bill related to HUD is in the House of Representatives. It would provide HOPWA with even more funds to assist people living with HIV access housing. Please consider signing on to AIDS United’s letter to Congress asking them to pass this important increase in HOPWA funding.
Biden administration approves increased SNAP funding
The Biden Administration recently approved updates to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provide families receiving benefits the largest single increase to date. The new calculations will increase the average SNAP benefit by about 25% or $36.24 per person per month, beginning on October 1.
The SNAP program helps provide food for about 1 in 8 Americans, including many people living with HIV. A survey of PWN members indicated that about 40-50% of PWN’s members rely on SNAP every month.
For more information about SNAP eligibility and how to apply, you can check out the Food and Nutrition Services website.
Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice
Impact of new Texas abortion ban
The Guttmacher Institute did an important study on the impact of Texas’s new six-week abortion ban which goes into effect on September 1. This ban is obviously cruel; many people would not even know that they were pregnancy so early in pregnancy.
However, what is less obvious is the other impacts of this ban, such as the increase in driving distances to access care, which Guttmacher focuses on. Basically, this ban will force many providers in Texas to shut down their clinics. This means for the average individual in Texas seeking an abortion, the one-way driving distance to a clinic would increase from 12 miles to 248 miles. For most people, this will necessitate an overnight stay as well, meaning the cost of accessing care also substantially increases.
A group of Texas abortion providers, abortion funds, practical support networks, doctors, health center staff, and clergy members have filed a suit to block this new law. Updates on the case will be posted on the ACLU’s website.
The Well Project releases resources for parents living with HIV about breast- and chestfeeding
The Well Project recently launched a resource page for people living with HIV who are interested in learning more about breast- or chestfeeding children while living with HIV. This page is intended to provide parents living with HIV access to information, based on research findings and expert experience, that can support them in making feeding decisions for their children.
This is especially important because in the United States, many birthing parents are not provided with an assessment of the health risks and benefits of breast or chest feeing their children. Indeed, public health guidelines only oppose breast- or chestfeeding among people living with HIV. This can be compared to other parts of the world where birthing parents living with HIV are encouraged to breast or chest feed their children while taking HIV medications.
You can also sign on to the Expert Consensus Statement on Breastfeeding and HIV in the US and Canada on the resource page.
Ending Criminalization
HIV Policy Lab analysis shows ineffectiveness of criminalization
The HIV Policy Lab released an analysis on the ineffectiveness and harm that criminalization has on the goals of the Global AIDS Strategy. The Global AIDS Strategy has sought to ensure that people living with HIV know their status and have access to antiretroviral treatment to reduce mortality and decrease transmission.
After reviewing the relative success of various countries’ HIV responses under this strategy, the HIV Policy Lab realized that there was a negative relationship between achieving these goals and criminalization.
Here are a few of the statistics that the analysis uncovered:
- In countries where same-sex sexual acts were criminalized, people living with HIV who knew their status was 11% lower and viral suppression levels were 8% lower
- Where sex work was criminalized, people living with HIV had 10% lower knowledge of status and 6% lower viral suppression
- In places where drug use was criminalized, people living with HIV had both a 14% lower level of knowledge status and viral suppression
- Higher knowledge of HIV status and viral suppression were associated with countries with laws addressing discrimination, independent human rights institutions, and gender-based violence
HIV Policy Lab suggests that to reach the Global AIDS Strategy goals, countries should strongly consider reforming these harmful criminalization laws.
LGBTQ Rights, Safety, and Justice
LGBTQ+ Women*s Community Survey
The first national LGBTQ+ Women*s Community Survey has been launched and is collecting responses! This is the first research study that will collect stories and survival strategies from LGBTQ+ women on a national level. The team that created it is a group of leading LGBTQ+ women of color activists and academics who wanted to create a data bank on the experiences of lesbian, bi, trans, non-binary, and queer women of color with racism, sexism, economic inequality, and queer- and trans- phobias. The survey hopes to also understand and answer outstanding questions about the lives of LGBTQ+ women that can’t be answered through government data collection.
If you identify as lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, trans, intersex, asexual, a queer woman who partners with women, a trans man who wants to report on their experience of partnering with women when they identified as or were perceived to be a girl or woman, or a non-binary person who partners with or has partnered with women, and would like to take the survey, you will find it here. Learn more here.
Ending Violence
DaBaby and HIV stigma
As many have already heard, DaBaby, a popular rapper, made homophobic slurs and stigmatizing comments about HIV during a concert. Both comments were despicable, but as PWN members pointed out in this article, the stigmatizing comments about HIV can ultimately create barriers to seeking out factual information, accessing care, and can increase the risks of criminalization.
For people living with HIV, stigma also has detrimental effects on mental health. The impacts of stigma are disproportionately felt by the Black community, people of transgender experience, people with disabilities, and immigrants.
Federal plans to end the HIV epidemic have discussed stigma but failed to make any real commitments to addressing it. Given the obviously present stigma in society, evidenced by DaBaby’s comments, it is past time for the federal government to put real effort into addressing HIV-related stigma.
The U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus lays out some recommendations in its Demanding Better federal policy agenda to address stigma, including:
- Require Department of Health and Human Services grantees to address employment barriers at all levels for people living with HIV as a way to combat stigma
- Utilize data collection tools and interventions that go beyond individual feelings and examine structural change, such as, the GNP+ Stigma Index 2.0
- Promote advocacy efforts to remove punitive laws and policies and acknowledge how they contribute to HIV-related stigma.
You can check out all of the stigma-reduction recommendations in the full policy agenda.