This is a brief look at what drug prices are at for HIV medications and why our healthcare system can fall short. This does not only hurt the 40 million in the US without insurance but also those who are underinsured. HIV/AIDS medication depending on the regimen’s medications can run you thousands of dollars a month. A common starting regimen consists of Lopinavir (Kaletra) boosted by Ritonavir/Lamivudine/Zidovudine. The cost of a 30 day supply for each drug can be as high as 198.99$, 289.99$, 385.88$, 170.00$. All of these total more then 1,000 dollars a month in only medication costs. Other starting regimens including atripla can be more then 1500$ for a one month supply. So if you have no insurance your total care costs can quickly rise out of your reach with the combination of bills for doctors visits, medication, and time lost not working. You can even just be underinsured for medication costing you large copays exceeding 500 dollars a month. These factors can make it very hard for uninsured to pay for their medical bills and not go into debt. In the end this can hurt the overall health care you recieve, and potentially forces patients to go without care.

If you recently were diagnosed with HIV all the new medications and treatment options can overwhelm you. Its important to start seeing a HIV specialist as soon as possible. They will take labs to help decide on when treatment should begin. The NIH did a study and determined the level at which you should begin treatment. Mortality rates increase if HAART is initiated below 0.200 x 10(9) cells/L. Also, nonadherent patients have higher mortality rates than adherent patients with similar CD4+ cell counts. Above a CD4 count of 0.200 x 10(9) cells/L, medication adherence is the critical determinant of survival, not the CD4+ cell count at which HAART is begun.

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