CHLPI Director Quoted in NY Times Article on Hepatitis C Medication

Via Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

The New York Times released an article on August 25, 2015 on the call for increased access to life-saving medications for individuals with hepatitis C from health care experts and advocates. Robert Pear, the reporter behind “White House Is Pressed to Help Widen Access to Hepatitis C Drugs via Medicaid,” interviewed CHLPI director Robert Greenwald about the Center’s research on health insurance coverage of the Hepatitis C medication Solvaldi throughout the United States.

Excerpt from the article:

“Federal and state Medicaid officials should widen access to prescription drugs that could cure tens of thousands of people with hepatitis C, including medications that can cost up to $1,000 a pill, health care experts have told the White House.

The experts, from the Public Health Service and President Obama’s Advisory Council on H.I.V./AIDS, said restrictions on the drugs imposed by many states were inconsistent with sound medical practice, as reflected in treatment guidelines issued by health care professionals and the Department of Veterans Affairs…

…But Robert L. Greenwald, an expert on health law and policy at Harvard Law School, said: “These criteria defy clinical guidelines and best practices. Rather than recommending the exclusion of people who inject drugs, we should encourage earlier treatment as a way to prevent transmission of the virus.””

Read the full article