How Mike Pence used Obamacare to halt Indiana's HIV outbreak stat : POLITICO

Pence was one of the GOP governors who had agreed to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, albeit with certain conservative tweaks. Mike Pence faced the worst public health crisis to hit Indiana in decades, he turned to Obamacare — a program he vilified and voted against. He signed his state's Medicaid expansion known as the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 in 2015 — the same year as the HIV outbreak. His health department relied heavily on the program to respond to the HIV crisis in southern Indiana. The threat of Obamacare repeal comes even as Indiana officials are asking the Trump administration to tweak its own Medicaid expansion program.




"I think [the HIV outbreak] could've been prevented, and that's a common narrative across the board. Though Pence eventually instated needle exchange programs in response to the crisis, the state's previously restrictive laws on needle exchanges likely contributed to the initial outbreak. @politico Nope, Mike Pence's policies directly led to the HIV outbreak in his state. There's one thing that might have been helpful for Politico to mention, though: That HIV outbreak — which caused 20 new HIV diagnoses per week at its peak — was in large part Pence's fault. Needle exchange programs, the study noted, reduce the risk of HIV infection by 56%.


His dismissal of communities that are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS stands in direct contrast with his nominal support of international HIV/AIDS relief. Bono joked that Pence is the second busiest man on Earth, noting, "Twice on the House floor you defended [PEPFAR]. And, while brief interactions like the one between Bono and Pence may seem relatively harmless, they humanize Pence. As an advocate for LGBTQ rights and for HIV/AIDS relief, Bono has a responsibility to think about the histories and large-scale impacts of the politicians he endorses, and to not just praise their specific policy choices. Afterwards, Pence tweeted that he enjoyed meeting Bono and discussing "prior effort to twice pass Africa AIDS assistance & future security in developing nations."



collected by :Lucy William
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VIRUSES and INFECTIONS