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The READ Publishes Anniversary Issue

After a brief hiatus and internal assessments, statewide LGBT focused newspaper The READ is scheduled to distribute its 1st anniversary issue tentatively scheduled for May 15. According to The Living Affected Corporation which publishes the media piece, this issue will reflect on past issues www.theread.net ) while fulfilling subscriptions.
while seeking to continue to offer a "content thread in the community fabric," featured in human interest stories, organizational updates and events and a new creative section designed to highlight prose and poetry submitted. Currently there are limited distribution plans with goals to upload the issue to its website (www.theread.net ) May 22nd.

About 137 million individuals with private insurance are guaranteed access to free preventive services

Nationwide, about 137 million individuals, including 55 million women and 28 million children, have private health insurance that covers recommended preventive services without cost sharing, according to a new ASPE Data Point from the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Affordable Care Act, most health plans are required to provide coverage for recommended preventive health care services without copays.

According to Arkansasnews.com.,Arkansas saw a 49.5 percent increase this year in the number of people who signed up for health insurance through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released figures Wednesday showing 64,947 Arkansans had enrolled or were automatically re-enrolled. That is up from 43,446 Arkansans who signed up during 2014’s open enrollment season.


Increased access to preventive services can reduce and prevent costly chronic diseases and help Americans live healthier lives. These services include but are not limited to:

* Blood pressure screening	* Well-baby and well-child visits
* Obesity screening and counseling	* Flu vaccination and other immunizations
* Well-woman visits	* Tobacco cessation interventions
* Domestic violence screening and counseling	* Vision screening for children
* Breastfeeding support and supplies	* HIV screening
* FDA-approved contraceptive methods	* Depression screening

“Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans have access to preventive services, including vaccinations, well-baby visits, and diabetes and blood pressure screenings," said Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. “These services can substantially improve the health of families, and in some cases even save lives. We urge all individuals with health care coverage to take advantage of these services. This can make a tremendous difference in the health of Americans.”
The data released today are broken down by state, age, gender, and race and ethnicity.  Of the about 137 million individuals with access to recommended preventive services without cost sharing:

• 28.5 million are children, who have access to free preventive service coverage for flu vaccinations and other immunizations, vision screening, and well-baby and well-child visits.
• 55.6 million are women, who have access to free preventive services such as well-women visits, breastfeeding support and supplies, and recommended cancer screenings.
• 53.5 million are men, who have access to annual wellness visits, blood pressure screening, and cancer screenings.
• And an estimated 15 million are Black, 17 million are Latino, and 8 million are Asian-Americans who have access to recommended preventive services without cost sharing.

Some of the estimated 137 million individuals that are guaranteed access to preventive services without cost sharing today may have had access to one or more of those services without cost sharing prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Employer Health Benefits Survey in 2012, 41 percent of all workers were covered by employer-sponsored group health plans that expanded their list of covered preventive services due to the Affordable Care Act. Based on this and available Health Insurance Marketplace data at the time, HHS previously estimated that approximately 76 million Americans – and 30 million women – received expanded coverage of one or more preventive services because of the Affordable Care Act.
To read a fact sheet explaining today’s data point, please visit: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2015/Prevention/ib_Prevention.pdf


Share Your Ideas for Updating the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) is our nation’s first comprehensive plan to reduce new HIV infections, improve health outcomes for people living with HIV, reduce HIV-related disparities, and achieve a more coordinated national response. Released in July 2010, it outlined specific action steps to achieve the Strategy’s goals through 2015. Arkansas's AHPG members partners will be encouraged to submit ideas to the project as well as, share this information on its social media platform.(www.facebook.com/arkansashivplanininggroup )

The White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) is in the process of updating the Strategy, the plan that drives the U.S. government and
partners’ response to HIV/AIDS domestically; the updated Strategy will advance this work for the next 5 years.

To truly make this a national strategy, ONAP and the Federal government are seeking the input of a wide range of stakeholders: people affected by and living with HIV, representatives of government at all levels, businesses, faith communities, philanthropic organizations, members of the scientific and medical communities, educational institutions, interested citizens, and others.

An online feedback forum has been launched to collect ideas about what should be included in the updated Strategy. Located at https://nhas.uservoice.com ,the feedback forum allows users to submit their recommendations and/or vote and comment on the ideas and recommendations of others. Submission deadline is May 22,2015.