BY GREG MILLETT

Various policies of the Trump Administration undermine this goal to end HIV transmission in the United States by 2030 by targeting communities at the highest risk for HIV. For instance, cuts to Title X-funded providers affect the availability of basic health care, reproductive, and HIV services for low-income women.

The public charge rule discourages non-citizens from seeking government assistance (including health services) at a time when HIV rates are increasing among a segment of the Latino population. And anti-immigrant rhetoric and crackdowns only exacerbate HIV transmission when fearful undocumented immigrants delay seeking health care.

The administration has actively sought to permit discrimination against transgender populations in health care settings, supports workplace bias against LGBT people (note: many Americans are insured through their jobs), and wants to allow health care workers to object to providing care to LGBT individuals morally.

Access to health care remains fundamental to eliminating HIV. Following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a large proportion of people living with HIV in the U.S. gained access to comprehensive health insurance.

Medicaid expansion has enabled more people with HIV to obtain coverage. People living with HIV who are insured are less likely to transmit the virus, which explains why HIV diagnoses in Louisiana fell to the lowest level in a decade two years after the state expanded Medicaid. Yet, unlike President Obama, the percentage of uninsured Americans has increased under President Trump.

Bold goals matter, but ending an epidemic remains hard work… Read more via the Hill