BY ALLISON DUBROW
The New York City Council’s Committees on Aging, Health, and Hospitals held a joint meeting in City Hall on Nov. 17 to discuss services available to older adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Councilmembers introduced bills to ensure inclusive and equitable access to HIV prevention services and treatment within the city. This was the first meeting that the Council has held regarding older adults living with HIV in nearly two decades, with the last one being in 2006.
“We know that health is a choice, but it’s not just an individual choice. It’s an institutional choice and it’s a democratic choice,” said Ashwin Vasan, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
HIV/AIDS was a leading cause of death in NYC from the early 80s until the early 2000s when things started to get better with the introduction of antiretroviral therapies. However, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, New Yorkers are sicker and dying too soon from all causes, Vasan said.
In fact, “life expectancy – the average number of years a person can expect to live from the time of their birth – has dropped dramatically from 82.6 years in 2019 to 78 years in 2020,” according to NYC Health.
Councilmember Pierina Sanchez has proposed a bill that would expand the availability of rapid testing for sexually transmitted infections. Another piece of legislation by Councilmember Chi Ossé would require the city to conduct outreach and report on the distribution of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that helps to prevent people from contracting HIV when taken prior to exposure.
Last December, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation to require insurance companies to cover access to PrEP and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a medication that helps to prevent HIV after possible exposure.
To expand on that, Crystal Hudson, the chair of the Committee on Aging, proposed legislation that would increase access to PrEP and PEP by not requiring prior authorization by health insurers or healthcare plans for the medicines before pharmacists can give them out.
“Healthcare is a human right and a person’s sexuality, gender identity or HIV status should not determine the quality of care they receive,” said Lynn Shulman, chair of the Committee on Health.
The committees acknowledged that HIV is not just an LGBTQ issue and with the passing of the different bills proposed, they hope to continue to eliminate the stigma around HIV and ageism which only exacerbates discrimination. The committee and those who testified want to make NYC a stigma free city and honor those who passed away while trying to continue to prevent deaths from HIV.
The city has set a goal to try and increase life expectancy to 83 years by 2030 through HealthyNYC, a campaign to try and get more New Yorkers to live healthier, longer lives.