Christian group wins case on Obamacare requirement on HIV prevention drugs

Just The News: A Texas federal judge sided Wednesday with a group of Christian employers in the state who argued that the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to offer insurance plans covering HIV prevention drugs, known as PrEP, violates their religious freedom.

The group argues that covering those services “violates their religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” said federal district court Judge Reed O’Connor, who is presiding over the case.

The ruling by O’Connor, a Bush appointee,was met with immediate opposition from the liberal healthcare nonprofit Protect Our Care, which is raising concerns about it setting a precedent for other “guaranteed” services under the law. 

The group says the ruling “invalidated all of the benefits covered under the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, including lifesaving colorectal and other cancer screenings, depression screenings, hypertension screenings, and access to PrEP.” The group accused Judge O’Connor of threatening to “eliminate all of the guaranteed preventive services under the ACA.” more

SNIP: One of the prEP drugs is Truvada.

Truvada lawsuits claim that the pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drug causes bone loss and kidney problems that the drug’s maker, Gilead Sciences, did not warn the public about.