National Newspaper Publishers Association Announces Year-Long Series on AIDS in Black America

Initiative comes on 30th anniversary of first diagnosed case of AIDS and just months after Obama Administration issues first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy

Chicago, IL, November 30, 2010—The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has partnered with the Greater than AIDS movement and the Black AIDS Institute to reengage Black Americans in fighting the AIDS epidemic by making an historic commitment to cover AIDS in Black America in the nation’s Black press. NNPA represents 200 member newspapers and more than 15 million readers. Greater Than AIDS is a national movement to unite and mobilize Americans in response to the AIDS crisis in our country, in particular the devastating epidemic facing Black Americans. The Black AIDS Institute is the only HIV/AIDS think tank in America focused exclusively on the impact of HIV/AIDS on Black people.

NEWS

If Employers Walked Away From Health Coverage

From Kaiser Health News

What would happen if the rank and file of America's employers, financially overwhelmed by the burden associated with sponsoring health coverage, suddenly opted out?

It isn't so far-fetched. Enrollment by working age families in private health coverage dropped more than 10 percent over the last decade, as individuals and business were priced out of the coverage market. Others, victims of the downturned economy, have lost their jobs and access to subsidized coverage. Those who still have coverage have narrower benefits with higher out-of-pocket costs than before.

NEWS

AIDS Turning 30: An Unsentimental Journey

Imagine the worst kind of wake-up call: You're slated to die, and no authority has the power, much less the competence, to commute your sentence.

Since 1981, far too many Americans have received such a summons. In June of that year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disclosed a baffling rare pneumonia in five gay men in Los Angeles--the first recorded cases of what would eventually become known as AIDS. Since then, 1.7 million Americans have become infected with HIV (pdf). More than 1 million Americans currently live with the virus, including some 500,000 Black Americans (pdf), who have been infected disproportionately since the onset.

2014 Question Looms: Could Medicaid Recipients Buy Insurance On Exchanges?

From Kaiser Health News

As budget-weary state officials contemplate dropping out of the state-federal Medicaid program, a potentially game-changing question has arisen in Washington: Would poor people who lose Medicaid be eligible for subsidies to buy private coverage in an insurance exchange beginning in 2014?

IN THIS ISSUE

Examining New HIV Data for MSM, PrEP and Paying for Medicaid

Nationwide Black men comprise roughly 35 percent of new HIV infections among gay men and 46 percent of new cases among all men. One in 16 Black men will be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS during their lifetime compared to 1 in 104 white men. New research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides some insight into why these rates are so high. As writer Rod McCullom explains, not only do Black gay and bisexual men continue to be hit hard by the disease, their lack of awareness of their positive HIV-status provides serious cause for alarm.