The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) major coverage reforms have created new pathways to insurance coverage for millions of Americans, including those with HIV. How have these changes affected coverage and access to care for people with HIV? Who has gained new coverage and who has been left out? How do state decisions around Medicaid expansion impact access to care for people with HIV? How have the programs that serve people with HIV, particularly the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, adapted and been affected by the ACA?  What barriers have been faced and how have these been overcome?

On May 4 at 9:30 a.m. ET, the Kaiser Family Foundation held a policy briefing to discuss these questions with a panel of experts. The Foundation also released a report based on focus groups with people with HIV in five states – California, Florida, Georgia, New York and Texas – to assess experiences with coverage in the ACA era.

Panelists included John Carlo, CEO of AIDS Arms Dallas; Laura Cheever, Associate Administrator, HIV/AIDS Bureau, the Health Resources and Services Administration; Shandora Lane, a Ryan White client from Atlanta, Ga., who lives with HIV; and Tim Westmoreland, Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center. Lindsey Dawson, Senior Policy Analyst with the HIV Policy team at the Kaiser Family Foundation, presented observations drawn from focus groups with people with HIV. Jen Kates, Foundation Vice President and Director of Global Health and HIV Policy, offered opening remarks and moderated the panel discussion.

This event was originally scheduled for January 2016, but was rescheduled due to inclement weather.