Free Viral Load Tests Becoming Available for Uninsured Patients

Two new programs provided by the manufacturers of the viral load tests most used in the U.S. are beginning to make free tests available to those with no way to pay for them. Usually you need to be HIV-positive, have a doctor who has ordered the test, and not be able to cover the cost through private or public insurance.

[Note: These programs exist because AIDS treatment activists from many organizations have pressured and negotiated for them. They are like the "patient assistance programs" under which many pharmaceutical companies give free drugs to persons who otherwise could not get them. But the testing programs are more difficult than the drug programs, because much of the expense of testing is for laboratory work, which is usually not done by the test manufacturer but by third parties; therefore it may not be enough for the companies to donate their own product. These new programs still have some problems, and activists are working to get them resolved.]

The two kinds of viral load tests which are most readily available -- PCR (polymerase chain reaction, by Hoffmann-La Roche) and branched DNA (by Chiron Corporation) -- are largely equivalent. But it is advisable to get the same kind each time, since there can be differences in how the tests measure a particular virus. In practice, the choice is likely to depend on which test one can obtain through the programs -- or which test one's physician is most familiar with.

One phone number to start with is 1-888-HIV-LOAD (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday -- 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday). This trilingual hotline (English/Spanish/Filipino) is run by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, with assistance from Chiron Corporation and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The Chiron program is now officially available in San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago -- and pending startup in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, and New York. In cities where the Chiron program is not available, this hotline will refer people to the Hoffmann-La Roche program (see below).

Another phone number to start with is 1-888-TESTPCR (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday). This hotline, run by Roche Diagnostic Systems, primarily helps people find out what reimbursement systems they may qualify for to pay for the test. But if reimbursement turns out to be impossible, this office can also arrange for access to free testing, although so far the new program has served a small number of people. (An earlier Roche program offered two free baseline viral load tests -- see AIDS TREATMENT NEWS #248 -- but problems developed because it was impossible to keep up with the demand.)

We will publish more information as experience develops on how well these new programs are working in practice.