On Wednesday, state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) filed a bill that would require Texas health care providers to inform patients that blood drawn as part of any routine medical testing would be screened for HIV unless the patient opts out. Filed to coincide with World AIDS Day, the bill is based on CDC recommendations in 2006 that HIV testing be a routine part of health care for people ages 13 to 64.”I’m trying to take the stigma out of HIV/AIDS testing. If we can make HIV testing as commonplace as getting a physical or flu shot, I think we can reduce the toll of this disease in Texas,” said Ellis.
Ellis made his comments at a Houston AIDS meeting. There, officials told attendees that one-third of Texans diagnosed with HIV were tested late in the course of infection and that someone in Houston is diagnosed with HIV every seven hours.
Ellis sponsored a similar bill in 2009 but said he is optimistic that this session’s measure would do better since the issue has become more visible. Legislation sponsored by the state senator in previous sessions led to mandatory HIV testing for people being released from and entering Texas prisons. Last session, he sponsored a successful measure requiring HIV testing of pregnant women.
The new bill would require Medicaid and private insurance plans to cover the cost of HIV testing regardless of the reason the patient visits the physician.
Officials at the Texas Hospital Association and the Texas Medical Association expressed support for routine HIV testing. A TMA spokesperson, however, said the doctors’ group had concerns about the “mandate element” of last session’s bill, asking which physicians would be required to screen for HIV, and how often, and who would assure treatment for those found to be HIV-positive.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) filed a bill that would require Texas health care providers to inform patients that blood drawn as part of any routine medical testing would be screened for HIV unless the patient opts out. Filed to coincide with World AIDS Day, the bill is based on CDC recommendations in 2006 that HIV testing be a routine part of health care for people ages 13 to 64.”I’m trying to take the stigma out of HIV/AIDS testing. If we can make HIV testing as commonplace as getting a physical or flu shot, I think we can reduce the toll of this disease in Texas,” said Ellis.
Ellis made his comments at a Houston AIDS meeting. There, officials told attendees that one-third of Texans diagnosed with HIV were tested late in the course of infection and that someone in Houston is diagnosed with HIV every seven hours.
Ellis sponsored a similar bill in 2009 but said he is optimistic that this session’s measure would do better since the issue has become more visible. Legislation sponsored by the state senator in previous sessions led to mandatory HIV testing for people being released from and entering Texas prisons. Last session, he sponsored a successful measure requiring HIV testing of pregnant women.
The new bill would require Medicaid and private insurance plans to cover the cost of hiv testing regardless of the reason the patient visits the physician.
Officials at the Texas Hospital Association and the Texas Medical Association expressed support for routine HIV testing. A TMA spokesperson, however, said the doctors’ group had concerns about the “mandate element” of last session’s bill, asking which physicians would be required to screen for HIV, and how often, and who would assure treatment for those found to be HIV-positive.
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