According to Modern Health Care, Jeff Myers, CEO of the trade group Medicaid Health Plans of America, responded to recent efforts by the federal government to expand access to curative treatments for Hepatitis C, a life-threatening disease that disproportionately impacts people who inject drugs.
CMS urged states to get rid of “abstinence” requirements for treatments, which has been widely supported in research, that demonstrates that people who inject drugs have treatment adherence comparable to non-drug using populations. “Myers defended barring heavy alcohol users from having access to hepatitis drugs, since the ongoing damage to their livers could counteract the drug’s effectiveness. He also said intravenous drug users might not have the mental capability to complete a full course of hepatitis treatment,” reported Modern Health Care.
We are taking a poll on twitter: what do you think? Do people who inject drugs lack a mental capability to be cured of hepatitis C?
We are sharing our results with Medicaid Health Plans of America.
“intravenous drug users might not have the mental capability to complete a full course of hepatitis treatment”@mhpa
— ProjectSAFE (@safephila) November 9, 2015
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If iv drug users have mental capacity To be arrested, then of course they have mental capacity for health Treatment. This treatment also affects more than just themselves. Our whole society is affected when someone is refused Hepatitis Treatment. Horrible idea to even contemplate not sharing a Health treatment to just one group of people.