{"id":63604,"date":"2018-02-06T12:20:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/publix-grocery-chain-says-it-will-implement-prep-coverage-in-health-plan-as-quickly-as-possible\/"},"modified":"2018-02-06T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:20:39","slug":"publix-grocery-chain-says-it-will-implement-prep-coverage-in-health-plan-as-quickly-as-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/publix-grocery-chain-says-it-will-implement-prep-coverage-in-health-plan-as-quickly-as-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Publix Grocery Chain Says It Will Implement PrEP Coverage in Health Plan \u2018As Quickly As Possible\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Publix Grocery Chain Says It Will Implement PrEP Coverage in Health Plan \u2018As Quickly As Possible\u2019<\/b>
\n\"Publix\"<\/p>\n

\"Publix\"<\/p>\n

Publix by Josh Hallett (CC BY SA 2.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Publix grocery chain today announced its health plan for employees will expand to cover Truvada use for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d following a report earlier this week that suggested the company might be denying the coverage on moral grounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wrote the company in a tweet: \u201cPublix appreciates the concerns shared by our associates and customers. We offer generous health coverage to our eligible full-time and part-time associates at an affordable premium and are committed to the health and well-being of our associates and their families. We\u00a0regularly evaluate what is covered by our health plan and have made the decision to expand our health plan\u2019s coverage of Truvada to include Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). We are working with our pharmacy benefits manager to implement this change as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Publix appreciates the concerns shared by our associates and customers. We offer generous health coverage to our eligible full-time and part-time associates at an affordable premium and are committed to the health and well-being of our associates and their families. We\u2026 1\/3<\/p>\n

\u2014 Publix (@Publix) February 6, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u2026regularly evaluate what is covered by our health plan and have made the decision to expand our health plan\u2019s coverage of Truvada to include Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). We are working with our pharmacy benefits manager to implement this change as quickly as\u2026 2\/3<\/p>\n

\u2014 Publix (@Publix) February 6, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u2026possible. GL 3\/3<\/p>\n

\u2014 Publix (@Publix) February 6, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

TheBody.com reported earlier this week<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s rejection of what is widely considered a major breakthrough in HIV prevention is as unique as it is puzzling, said David Holland, M.D., M.H.S., an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University and director of the\u00a0Fulton County PrEP clinic in Atlanta<\/a>, who unsuccessfully tried to get Publix to cover PrEP for one of the company\u2019s employees. \u201cWe\u2019ve started over 400 people on PrEP at our clinic alone, and this is the only person that we weren\u2019t able to get PrEP for,\u201d Holland said\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026The employee Holland assisted appealed the initial denial, was rejected twice more, and \u201cwas the only one we were not able to resolve through an appeal,\u201d Holland said. \u201cWhat we found out from the insurance company was that it came, ultimately, from the employer,\u201d he added. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just an insurance issue; it was [that] the employer did not want it covered in the insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Publix officials did not respond to written questions about the company\u2019s rationale for omitting coverage of PrEP for its employees, but Holland and public health advocates believe it was unlikely due to costs. Blogger Josh Robbins first\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in November 2016 that Publix was denying its employees access to PrEP, and the reasoning behind it is still unclear.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s board is largely conservative and Publix scored a zero on HRC\u2019s analysis of workplace fairness. Some are concerned that \u201creligious freedom\u201d to deny healthcare is at the root of it, with the Hobby Lobby case standing as justification.<\/p>\n

The Body.com added<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Three of the seven states that Publix operates in \u2014 North Carolina, Georgia, and its home state of Florida \u2014\u00a0are ranked in the top-10 states with the highest number of HIV diagnoses in 2016<\/a>, according to the CDC. The\u00a0Miami metropolitan area ranked first in the county in the prevalence of HIV diagnoses<\/a>, with almost 39 out of every 100,000 residents acquiring the disease in 2016, while the Atlanta area, where Fulton County health officials received pushback from Publix on PrEP coverage, ranked fourth, with 1,701 new infections in 2016, or more than 29 cases per 100,000 residents, according to CDC surveillance data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not a mom-and-pop grocery store,\u201d Barrington Ward said. \u201cFor them to not know that they operate in a region that carries the bulk of the epidemic at this point, that most of the new cases in the United States occur where their grocery stores are, and for them not to provide that protection for their staff is irresponsible, at the very least. Publix\u2019s general reputation as a stellar company to work for makes their opposition to protecting their employees via PrEP even more confounding, Arromand said. \u201cI was really shocked to learn about this because I know I have tons of friends who work for Publix and, believe it or not, I hear really great things about Publix as a corporation,\u201d Arromand said. \u201cThe fact that they are employee-driven, the fact that there are plenty of opportunities for their employees to advance as the company grows, and certainly not least, [at a company whose motto is] \u2018Where Shopping is a Pleasure,\u2019 working at Publix should also be a pleasure for its employees,\u201d added Arromand, who commended the work being done to increase access to PrEP in the Atlanta area, where more than 30,000 people are living with HIV.<\/p>\n

The post Publix Grocery Chain Says It Will Implement PrEP Coverage in Health Plan \u2018As Quickly As Possible\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Publix Grocery Chain Says It Will Implement PrEP Coverage in Health Plan ‘As Quickly As Possible’<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n