Law in Contemporary Society

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TheAffordableCareActAndHIV 3 - 01 Apr 2012 - Main.AustenBrandford
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 As the Supreme Court wraps up oral arguments about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, we are afforded an opportunity to understand the benefits provided to marginalized groups like individuals who suffer from HIV.

According to a brief submitted by Lambda Legal as amici curiae supporting the Minimum Coverage Requirement (MCR) issue of the Affordable Care Act, "When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010) (as amended), was enacted, only 17% of Americans with HIV/AIDS had private health insurance, and nearly 30% had neither public nor private insurance". See AIDS.gov, Health Care Reform and HIV/AIDS: How Does the Affordable Care ActImpact People Living with HIV/AIDS? 2 (Jan. 14, 2011) (“Health Care Reform and HIV/AIDS)."

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 The stigma that is attached to HIV is often attributed to the way that the government treats the disease. Legislation enacted in the 1980’s when the “gay cancer” was initially horrifying the world still exists. HIV-positive prisoners are still often separated from others and as recently as 1998 a court deemed HIV-positive saliva a “deadly weapon.”
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<		This shame has been said to lead to a decrease in HIV testing, which can be largely to blame for the recent increase in diagnoses among young men. If courts and legislators understood that their decisions regarding the treatment of people with HIV actually lead to the more successful proliferation of this horrible disease, they would hopefully be more careful. Unfortunately, they haven’t had a chance to walk in my shoes and see the painful effects in person. As a gay man, it’s extremely real, but most people don’t have to see it face to face.
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>		This shame has been said to lead to a decrease in HIV testing (ignorance is bliss?), which can be largely to blame for the recent increase in diagnoses among young men. If courts and legislators better understood that their decisions regarding the treatment of people with HIV actually play a role in the proliferation of this horrible disease, they would hopefully be more careful. Unfortunately, they haven’t had a chance to walk in my shoes and see the painful effects in person.

Revision 3r3 - 01 Apr 2012 - 04:37:02 - AustenBrandford
Revision 2r2 - 01 Apr 2012 - 02:28:42 - AustenBrandford
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