Fourteen health and social justice organizations from across the U.S. wish to celebrate the people-powered effort behind UnitedHealthcare responding so swiftly to demands that they improve access to the HIV drug Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medical intervention that prevents HIV infection. On Friday, Aug. 4, UnitedHealthcare received a joint letter from this coalition objecting...
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AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) strongly condemns the actions taken by a majority of Senate Republicans’ vote to advance a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has provided access to comprehensive health care coverage for nearly 24 million Americans. If signed into law by President Trump without a proper replacement, over 1.2 million Illinoisans would lose their...
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by Ashley Brown
UPDATE: In November 2018, the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services (HFS) announced that a hepatitis C cure would be accessible for thousands more Illinoisans on Medicaid, many of whom were previously denied treatment until they reached end-stage disease. Learn more here .
Peter McLoyd doesn’t care what you think of him...
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The Illinois budget impasse has finally come to an end.
Over the July 4th holiday weekend, the Illinois General Assembly passed bipartisan legislation for a full Fiscal Year (FY) 18 budget that supports health equity across the state. Legislators also passed a revenue bill (which increases the Illinois income tax from 3.75% to 4.95%) to actually fund that budget. The AIDS...
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One year ago today, the Pulse nightclub shooting brought immense grief to our nation and reminded us about the havoc guns can reap on America’s most vulnerable communities. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) was deeply saddened by the death of 49 members of the broader LGBTQ and Latinx community. We were also deeply moved to end gun violence in Chicago and across...
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By Anthony Millspaugh
"Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant...."
So begins the achingly poignant memoir The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, an exploration of love and loss, grief and resilience. In October 2005, it was the book I was reading when I received a call from a specialist who had recently conducted a procedure ordered by my doctor; the news...
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As the Illinois spring legislative session ends, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) celebrates its legislative accomplishments, despite enduring a third year without passage of a state budget. Illinois has now gone 700 days and counting without passing a positive, people-first budget . As the state moves into another year without a responsible economic plan in place, the most vulnerable members...
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by Ashley Brown
Before the first morning light had struck Chicago’s streets, almost 100 HIV advocates from various backgrounds came together on May 17 to travel to Springfield to fight for HIV lives at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC)’s annual event Advocacy Day. Abuzz with excitement for the upcoming day, familiar faces shared greetings and hugs, like family members long...
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by Cristal
As a child of immigrants, I was taught to migrate in order to survive. In the past three years, I have bounced in between California, Chicago, and Mexico searching for both community and financial stability. One thing that I have learned as a migrating queer chicanx is that outside of protests (and sometimes even then) and queer+trans circles – we are constantly FORCED...
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