December 15, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle Pushes U.S. to Expand HIV Testing

States across the nation need to expand routine HIV testing and follow the example set by California, where the law requires health insurers to cover HIV tests and where doctors have switched from required written patient consent for screenings to oral consent, writes the San Francisco Chronicle in a December 15 editorial.

“But these policies aren’t in place everywhere,” the editorial says. “It’s time to push for a federal policy—and serious Washington money—to make testing work. Setting the right example here [in the United States] will also help in the global fight to curb the AIDS epidemic.”

The piece notes that bolstering efforts to test as many people as possible for HIV would get more people on treatment, which, as studies have shown, decreases the likelihood of transmission from an HIV-positive person to a negative sexual partner.

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