Departments of Justice and HHS letter urges state Medicaid leaders to cover Hepatitis C medications

• The Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)  wrote a letter to state Medicaid heads.
• They want to make sure Medicaid programs follow the rules of the ADA and allow people who have both Hepatitis C (HCV) and substance use disorder (SUD) to get medications called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs).
• More than two million adults in the U.S. have HCV, and DAA medications cure HCV more than 95% of the time.
• The letter says that people with SUD should have the same chance to get these medicines to cure HCV as anyone else.
• The Justice Department is serious about making sure everyone has equal access to healthcare.
• The letter talks about an agreement with Alabama Medicaid, where they fixed a policy that stopped some people with HCV and SUD, who had recently used alcohol and/or illegal drugs, from getting DAAs.
• Both the Justice Department and HHS are watching over Medicaid programs to make sure they follow the ADA.
• The ADA says that people with disabilities, including SUD, should have the same chance as anyone else to participate in and get the benefits of Medicaid programs.

Read the full press release