Assurant Health, a national company specializing in health insurance coverage for individuals and small businesses, has reversed its decision to no longer cover the med Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent contracting HIV.

Mary Hinderliter, vice president of communications for Assurant Health, emailed POZ the following statement: “We are reversing our decision and will be reaching out to policyholders who received the letter.”

Several Assurant customers who had been taking Truvada (comprising the antiretrovirals tenofovir and emtricitabine) as PrEP were recently notified that the insurer would end coverage of the med in July.

“Prophylactic treatment is not a covered benefit as listed in the Exclusion Section of your member contract,” read one customer’s notice (see below). “As a courtesy we will allow two additional months of prescription coverage for your Truvada prescription. This means you will continue to receive prescription drug card benefits for Truvada at CVSC Specialty Pharmacy until July 1, 2015.”

The Associated Press reported last week that the parent company of Assurant Health is selling or closing the insurer because it has been losing money since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.

Jim Pickett, the director of prevention advocacy and gay men’s health at AIDS Foundation of Chicago, told POZ that he knows of several other people across the country with Assurant Health who have learned their PrEP coverage was ending.

“Assurant Health’s recent decision to now refuse coverage of Truvada if prescribed as PrEP—an FDA-approved, CDC-endorsed, highly effective and needed HIV prevention intervention—is unprecedented, unacceptable and dangerous,” Pickett said. “It reeks of contempt for, and discrimination of, people vulnerable to HIV. It’s bad for the health of individuals, and it’s bad for the health of our communities. AIDS Foundation of Chicago, with fellow advocates and allies from across the country, is mobilizing now to take a strong stand against this action.”

Assurant Health PrEP  

An Assurant notification regarding Truvada coverage. Click on the image to expand.