CEO, Brandon Macsata, explains how ADAP can help those with #HIV and #AIDS get free medications, financial aid for health insurance and more!
For More information: https://www.adapadvocacy.org
https://www.gileadadvancingaccess.com/copay-coupon-card
The following is a transcript of the conversation between Karl and Brandon.
BRANDON
The easier we can make it for people, the better.
KARL
Hello there, welcome to Plus Talk on Plus Life, where we’re all about turning positive into a plus. The AIDS Drug Assistance program. What is it? Why is it important? Why do you need to know about it? Well, we’ve got our friend Brandon Mexada here, and he’s got all the answers. Good to see you, Brandon.
BRANDON
Thank you for having me, Karl. Good to see you.
KARL
Thank you. Now, I know what ADAP is because I’ve benefited from ADAP, but I think so many people, you know, get an HIV diagnosis and then don’t know where to start, especially if you don’t have insurance. And we can get into why people don’t get tested in the first place, because they’re worried that they couldn’t deal with a positive diagnosis. But in the simplest, most plain English everyday talk, what is ADAP, and why, if I’ve been diagnosed HIV positive, do I need to know about it?
BRANDON
ADAP is a federal program in partnership with states that gives insurance for access on prescription drugs for people who are either underinsured or have no insurance. Now, we like to think that with the ACA, the Affordable Care Act passing, that everybody got insurance, and everybody, you know, can get access to what they want, and that’s just not necessarily the case. So there are still federal programs that are very important. ADAP, for people living with HIV/AIDS, is the one of the most important programs. The only program that funds healthcare services for people living with HIV more is Medicaid, that’s the number one payer, but ADAP is second. And ADAP is part of the Ryan White Care Act, which funds more diverse care and services and supports for people living with HIV. But being what we know about HIV, that if you treat it, treat it early, and you’re adherent to your medications, you can be undetectable. And what we know in today’s science is that undetectable equals untransmittable. That means me as a long-term survivor of HIV, who also benefited from ADAP at one point in my life, taking my medications every day, keeping my viral load suppressed, that through sexual contact I cannot give my HIV to my partner or sexual partner, whoever it may be. And that’s important, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re very focused on making sure people are aware of ADAP, we have an online directory so that if you are newly diagnosed, I mean think of the emotions that you went through when you were first diagnosed, you know, there’s so many emotions running through your mind. And hopefully you’re linked to care, hopefully you have a social worker who’s there saying, hey, we can get you in this program. But if not, you as a patient can go online and say, okay, this is a program that’s available to me. Or equally important, you move. ADAP is different in every state. We joke that there’s two things that every state a DAP has in common, its name, ADAP, and that you have to be HIV positive to be eligible. After that, the similarities from state to state change. So if you’re living in New York, and you have your ADAP services covering A, B, C, D, you move to Kentucky and you find out, oh no, my ADAP in Kentucky only funds A and B, I don’t get C and D here, now you’re freaking out, what do I do? So it’s important, we always tell people before you move, if you’re on ADAP, make sure you know where you’re moving to and what the ADAP looks like, ’cause it’s very important.
KARL
I think when people hear government-funded program, that can set off alarm bells and freak people out. To me, it sounds like a whole lot of paperwork, that I’m gonna be marched into an office, I’m gonna be judged by somebody, I have to declare my HIV status, obviously. What if I’m not ready to be talking about my HIV status? What if I have experienced stigma from some of these, you know, government healthcare services or things in the past? What’s your advice to people who go, ah, this just doesn’t sound like I can do this?
BRANDON
I always tell people to take a very deep breath and think about you and your health, and what would your life be like if you weren’t on the medications that will keep you healthy, hopefully make you attain an undetectable status. Stigma exists, there’s no doubt about it. The HRC just came out with their annual report about stigma in television and people’s attitudes. We have a lot of work to do to combat stigma. But I think if you are going to let stigma dictate your healthcare decisions, you’re putting yourself in a very bad position. So hopefully you don’t run into that. If it does happen, you know, go to someone and see if there’s other services available for you. But I think in most cases, if you’re gonna run into an ADAP counselor, coordinator, whoever it is within the ADAP-Ryan White space, these are people who are aware that you have to be HIV positive, they work with HIV-positive clients on a daily basis, I think you’ll find them to be most helpful. And if you run into someone who’s not, then go to plan B. And Plan B may be saying, “Can I speak to your supervisor?” You know, there’s always a remedy to a situation, it may not be an easy remedy, but there’s always a remedy. And I think the more a patient is proactive in their health, the better off they’re going to be.
KARL
You know, a lot of people, young people especially, are on their family, their parents’ insurance plans, right? And they are not out, perhaps, about their sexual identity. They certainly don’t want to talk about their HIV status with their parents. You talk about how ADAP works alongside with people who don’t have insurance, I’m one of those people, that was the case for me back when I made use of ADAP. What sort of assurances are there? Are there any that, if you’re facing this and you’re on your parents’ insurance, but you don’t particularly want to tell them but you gotta get on the treatment, can ADAP help in any way there?
BRANDON
There’s always a solution. Hopefully it’s easy, and sometimes in life it is easy, but a lot of times it’s not. And I just think you have to continue to tell that message that you’re taking care of yourself and your health. We know that the life expectancy for people who are HIV positive and taking their medication, adherently, and especially if they’re undetectable, is the same as their HIV-negative counterpart. So those are the things you need to be thinking about that are very important. And yes, you could be facing with a lot of anxiety, aside from family and everything else, you know, stigma. It’s just a very anxious time in your life when you find out you’re newly diagnosed, and the best way to handle it is to confront it head on and do what you can do for yourself.
KARL
Yeah. You make such a good point. So let’s break it down, again, as simply as possible. I find out I’m HIV-positive, I’ve gotta get on treatment, what are the steps, Brandon, to getting on the ADAP program?
BRANDON
Again, we’re back to state by state. So in a very general sense, you’ll have to determine if you’re eligible. and it’s based on how much money you make. So if you’re unemployed and you have no income, it’s pretty easy you’re going to be eligible. You know, maybe you have a job and you don’t make enough money, you could still be eligible for ADAP. Again, it’s for people who are uninsured or underinsured. The process is very straightforward, and then someone will get in touch with you and say, you are eligible, this is now what needs to be done. Best case scenario, you’re also gonna be linked to other services that would help you, because again, ADAP is just prescriptions, but there are other services available that could be for dental, you know, other general health, those sorts of services.
KARL
Yeah, and I should say, that for people that are unable to obtain ADAP, it’s not the end of the road, don’t worry. Copay and payment assistance programs are offered by most HIV drug companies, and we’re gonna do a separate plus talk down the line about how one can apply for those kind of services too. But ADAP in of itself is just a life lifesaver, it certainly has helped me, I know it helps a lot of people, and we didn’t get time to talk about, but I know in some states, not all of them, but in some states, even undocumented immigrants also qualify for ADAP. So we are gonna put all the information up as a graphic somewhere here, I think the kids do that on the cool YouTube videos. There’ll be something right here.
BRANDON
Right here, right?
KARL
Yeah, you can click here now, and that will take you, or at least advise you where to go for ADAP. Brandon, this has been great, sorry it’s so short, but thank you for making the time to talk about this really important program.
BRANDON
Karl, thank you so much for the invite.
KARL
Absolutely. That is gonna do it for this Plus talk. Remember, if you want more information, you can click on that link that we just talked about, but we’ll also put it in the body of the social post, and we’ll make sure it goes up on our website as well. Remember, you can follow us across social media, we are @PlusLifeMedia, and check out the website, pluslifemedia.com, all the info will be there as well. And until next time, be nice to one another. We’ll see you soon.