National
Higher AIDS drug costs under Obamacare?
Sebelius urged to allow drug company subsidies in exchanges
AIDS groups sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging her to allow drug company discount programs to operate under Obamacare. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).
AIDS advocacy organizations say people with HIV could be forced to pay hundreds of dollars more each month for life-saving prescription drugs through health insurance plans required under the soon-to-be implemented Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare.
Leaders of more than 160 national and local organizations advocating for people with AIDS and other diseases sent a joint letter on Monday to Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, urging her to allow drug company discount programs to operate under Obamacare.
“We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are writing to urge that the HHS issue clear guidance on the allowance of drug industry-provided co-payments, co-insurance, or other out-of-pocket discount cards and coupons in the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplaces,” the letter to Sebelius says.
“As people living with, and organizations serving people with HIV, HCV [Hepatitis C Virus], and other life-threatening and chronic health conditions, we are alarmed by the possibility of the prohibition of these critical financial lifelines,” the letter says.
The signers of the letter were referring to a controversy that erupted last month when Sebelius released a letter she sent to U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) saying HHS determined that the Obamacare health insurance exchanges were not “federal health care programs” as defined by a separate federal law aimed at curtailing health care fraud.
By declaring that the exchanges are not federal health care programs HHS, among other things, made the exchanges and the insurance plans sold under them exempt from a provision of the Social Security Act that bans pharmaceutical companies from providing insurance co-payment discounts or subsidies to patients for the purchase of prescription drugs.
Although this initial action by HHS drew strong support from AIDS organizations it surprised and angered many private health insurance companies and federal and state consumer protection regulators, who argued that the exemption would take away an important tool for preventing and prosecuting health care fraud.
Critics, including U.S. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), noted that the Social Security Act prohibits pharmaceutical companies from providing co-payment assistance to patients under Medicare and Medicaid and that the Affordable Care Act should be considered as a similar federal health program.
Possibly due to the criticism of Sebelius’s initial determination on the issue, a short time later the HHS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, which oversees insurance-related matters, issued a memo that appeared to contradict Sebelius’s interpretation of the Social Security Act.
The latter development prompted the AIDS organizations and allied groups to send their Dec. 2 letter to Sebelius urging her to hold firm on her initial determination that the insurance exchanges are exempt from the Social Security Act’s ban on drug company subsidies for prescription drug coverage.
The D.C.-based national group Health HIV participated in efforts to recruit groups to sign the letter.
According to the Wall Street Journal, drug companies spent about $4 billion on co-payment assistance programs for patients with HIV and other illnesses in 2011. The paper cited experts in the pharmaceutical industry that said the assistance programs often lowered a patient’s co-payment from $250 or more per month to just $5 per month for a prescription drug.
Critics of the program say the subsidies often are given for brand-name drugs and encourage patients not to request cheaper generic drugs. This forces insurance companies to pay more for the name-brand drugs, resulting in higher premiums for everyone in the long run, critics have said.
But in their letter to Sebelius, the AIDS organization officials said most AIDS-related drugs needed by people with HIV are not available in generic forms.
“[W]e urge you to consider the unintended consequences of suddenly removing industry-provided out-of-pocket assistance for brand-name drugs without generic equivalents from the patchwork of programs that so many people with serious and chronic conditions rely on,” the joint letter says.
“It could potentially threaten access to lifesaving medications for thousands of people living with HIV; bar millions of people with hepatitis C from benefiting from the new short-course curative treatment combinations; and keep countless people with cancer and other debilitating and life-threatening illnesses from the treatment they need to stay alive,” the letter says.
“We fear this will be a major setback to the goals of the Affordable Care Act,” it says.
HHS spokesperson Mike Robinson said he would make inquiries in response to a request by the Blade for Sebelius’s response to the joint letter by the AIDS organizations, but he did not immediately respond.
“We’re still waiting for a clear determination from HHS,” said Carl Schmid, deputy director of the AIDS Institute, one of the groups that signed on to the letter to Sebelius. “There have been some mixed signals from the department.”
Schmid said the drug company assistance programs seek to help people with HIV who are not eligible for the federal-state AIDS Drug Assistance Program known as ADAP, which provides AIDS drugs to low-income people who don’t have insurance.
Although people being helped by the pharmaceutical company assistance programs often are employed and have moderate incomes, the high cost of prescription drug co-payments could be devastating to them, Schmid and others familiar with the programs said. Some people with HIV need more than one drug for their treatment regimen, and co-payments under their insurance plans often result in co-payments of more than $200 per drug per month.
Dan Mendelson, president of the heath care consulting firm Avalere Health LLC told the Wall Street Journal that the average “silver” health insurance plan under the Obamacare exchanges has a required annual deductible of $2,500. He told the WSJ that the average deductible for the “bronze” plans under the exchanges, which are said to be the cheapest plans, is $5,000.
Schmid said these costs are often prohibitive for patients with modest incomes. The elimination of the drug company assistance programs under the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges would create a serious burden on HIV patients and others who now rely on the assistance programs.
National
BREAKING NEWS: Shots fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Shooter reportedly opened fire inside hotel
Four loud bangs were heard in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
According to the Associated Press, a shooter opened fire inside the hotel outside the ballroom.
Attendees could hear four loud bangs as people started to duck and take cover. During the chaos sounds of salad and glasses were dropped as hotel employees, and guests ducked for cover.
The head table — which included President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump, and White House Correspondents Association President Weijia Jiang — were rushed off stage.
“The U.S. Secret Service, in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Department, is investigating a shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement. “The president and the First Lady are safe along all protects. One individual is in custody. The condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation.”
Trump held a press conference at the White House after he left the hotel.
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service,” said Trump.
Trump said the shooter is from California. He also said an officer was shot, but said his bullet proof vest “saved” him.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, interim D.C. police chief Jeffrey Carroll, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, and other officials held their own press conference at the hotel.
Carroll said the gunman was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and “multiple” knives when he charged a Secret Service checkpoint in a hotel lobby. Carroll also told reporters that law enforcement “exchanged gunfire with that individual.”
Both he and Bowser said the gunman appeared to act alone.
“We are so very thankful to members of law enforcement who did their jobs tonight and made sure all guests were safe,” said Bowser. “Nobody else was involved.”
The Washington Blade will update this story as details become more available.
State Department
State Department implements anti-trans bathroom policy
Memo notes directive corresponds with White House executive order
The State Department on April 20 announced employees cannot use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
The Daily Signal, a conservative news website, reported the State Department announced the new policy in a memo titled “Updates Regarding Biological Sex and Intimate Spaces, Including Restrooms.”
The State Department has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the directive.
“The administration affirms that there are two sexes — male and female — and that federal facilities should operate on this objective and longstanding basis to ensure consistency, privacy, and safety in shared spaces,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot told the Daily Signal. “In line with President Trump’s executive order this provides clear, uniform guidance to the department by grounding policy in biological sex as determined at birth.”
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. The sweeping directive also ordered federal government agencies to “effectuate this policy by taking appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity.”
The Daily Signal notes the new State Department policy “does not prohibit single-occupancy restrooms.”
National
I’m telling the scared little girl I once was it’s okay to feel free
This week is Lesbian Visibility Week
Uncloseted Media published this article on April 23.
By SOPHIE HOLLAND | At 13 years old, I remember looking in the mirror in my Toronto bathroom and thinking, “Yeah, I’m a lesbian.” At the time, I thought it was a dirty word. Thinking back, it could be because the first time I heard it was when a family member said, “I don’t know what a lesbian is, they are like aliens.”
And although I walked around in camouflage Crocs with a rainbow My Little Pony charm, plaid knee-length shorts and a shark tooth necklace (yes, these are all, in my opinion, stereotypically lesbian apparel!), I didn’t feel like I fit the mold. The longer I thought about it, the worse I felt, so I buried my feelings deep inside.
Now I am 25, and I have been out since I was 22. Three years ago, I never could have imagined that I’d be working for a queer news publication and celebrating Lesbian Visibility Week, an annual event meant to honor and uplift lesbian perspectives and highlight the hardships our community faces. To me, LVW is so important because, frankly, it has been an absolute shit show getting here, to a place where I feel love and joy most days.
I think back to the frustration of constantly being asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?” Of watching princess movies and seeing a broken girl only find herself when her prince charming arrives. I remember listening to music that was always about heterosexual relationships. I remember feeling left out in high school when, one by one, my friends got boyfriends.
I tried the boyfriend, and I tried really hard for it to work at a large detriment to my wellbeing. I brainwashed myself into thinking I was probably bisexual, which I told my closest friends around 16 and unsuccessfully told my parents at the same age. I was probably subconsciously using this as a litmus test of their acceptance and to soothe the anxiety I felt around my sexuality.
Learning to love who I am did not only come from me unraveling my internalized lesbophobia and dissecting the oppressive societal messages of heteronormativity. It came from meeting an awesome community of lesbians and queers. I found people who understood my worldview and who showed me the ropes. I no longer had to stutter over concepts like lesbian loneliness or my frustration with misogynistic straight men.
They all just got it.
Without this community, I am not sure if I could be as warm and confident in myself as I am today.
And while I still experience homophobia, like being spat on while walking with an ex in downtown Toronto or having a stranger yell in my face “Are you fucking lesbians?” in Kensington Market, the joy and love still outweighs the nasty.
So, as the sentimental dyke that I have become, I decided to ask a set of lesbians in my orbit — including my friends as well as Uncloseted staffers, board members and followers — if they would share a little bit about what makes them love being a lesbian. And now, I can share it with all of you. Here they are. Happy LVW!
Timi Sotire
Falling in love with her was a reset. I felt like a kid again, hopeful about the future. We’ve had to overcome many obstacles to be together, but I’d choose her in every lifetime. I was sick with a long-term health condition when we met, and hanging out with Sophia really helped me with my recovery after my surgery.
Bella Sayegh
Being a lesbian is one of the most beautiful things in the world. To be authentically yourself in resistance and joy is so special within the lesbian community.
Parker Wales
When I met Liv, I finally understood why almost every song is about love.
Gillian Kilgour
There is no connection quite as perfect as between lesbians, no one sees me like my lesbians do.
Chyna Price
There’s many things I love about being a lesbian. But here are my top three:
- There’s just a deeper understanding when it comes to being loved by another woman.
- The next one would be the sense of community, especially being a POC masculine-presenting lesbian. I don’t feel like I’m cosplaying as someone else like I felt like I was doing before I came out.
- There’s so much history going back to the 1800s on how we found and fought for our love. That fight makes me proud because it shows me … that we’ve [found] ways to express our love even when it was misunderstood, illegal and deemed as madness.
Hope Pisoni
Before I knew I was a lesbian, romantic relationships seemed suffocating — it felt like everyone would expect me to act my part in the meticulous performance that is heterosexuality. But meeting my spouse and discovering our identities together showed me just how freeing it could be to love without a script to follow.
Leital Molad
It was the joy of watching the New York Sirens defeat the Toronto Sceptres at our first professional women’s hockey game — surrounded by hundreds (maybe thousands?) of cheering lesbians.
Angela Earl
I spent years building a life that looked right. But I never felt settled, and eventually I started asking what would actually make me happy. Coming out was about more than who I love, it was letting go of everything I was told to be. The last few years have felt like coming home to a life that had been waiting for me.
Tali Bray
What I love about being a lesbian is what I love about being in love … the wonder and joy of “oh, this is what it’s supposed to feel like.” I love moving through the world with women.
Izzy Stokes
I didn’t fall in love until I realized that queerness was an option. My queer friends have helped me see so much more than I grew up seeing. I’m so proud of us, and I’m so grateful for my lesbian community.
Nandika Chatterjee
When I met my fiancée is when I started to feel most like myself. That meant loving myself for who I am and embracing my identity as a lesbian. I felt free in a way I have never before. That’s the long and short of it.
Liz Lucking
The love and joy of being a lesbian is getting to live the life I dreamed of but never thought I would get to have!
Reflections
As I read these beautiful entries, it’s not lost on me that we’re still living in a world where lesbians are more likely to struggle with maternity problems, fetishization, and compulsory heterosexuality — not to mention the intersectional pressures of racism from both inside and outside the queer community. That’s part of why, according to a 2024 survey, 22 percent of LGBTQ women have attempted suicide, and 66 percent have sought treatment for trauma.
So if you are a lesbian who isn’t out or doesn’t feel safe, I hope you read this and can glean some hope from these messages. So when you look in the mirror, you know that it’s okay to release the weight — which can feel so heavy — of a heteronormative world.
We still have a long fight until all lesbians can feel safe to be themselves, but this is a community that does not back away from the tough, from the joy, from being loud and from all the other things that it takes to start a small revolution.
Hell yeah, lesbians! Here’s to you.
*I am signing off with my cat on my lap and a pride flag over my head <3.
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