News Round-Up: October 11, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• The above graphic is dedicated to any and everyone considering National Coming Out Day... #comeoutcomeoutwhereveryouare

• Activists are warning people with HIV and other chronic illnesses to check small print when getting a new health insurance policy. Some insurers are refusing to allow co-payment assistance coupons from drug manufacturers from counting towards annual deductibles.

• Americans have ranked Barack Obama as the president who's done the best job in their lifetimes.

• Observing the 20 anniversary since Matthew Shepard was kidnapped and beaten then left to die on a cold Wyoming night tied to a fence, his parents have announced his remains will be interred at the Washington National Cathedral later this month.

• The 750,000 citizens of North Dakota, where Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is struggling in the polls, could very well decide for the country who controls the Senate after midterm elections.

• UK recording artist (and Randy Report favorite) Calum Scott offers his own coming out story for National Coming Out Day.

Scott recounts a painful part of his young adult life - processing the complex emotions of being a gay teen and letting the world around him aware of his sexual orientation. Friends abandoned him early on, and it hurt. But in the poignant profile, he says he found the courage to be honest about himself through music.

New York State Will Investigate Claims That Insurance Companies Denied Healthy Gay Men Coverage

According to reports, some insurance companies appear to be denying insurance policies to gay men who admit to taking medication that protects them from HIV infection.

Wait - what? These are healthy guys who are taking preventative steps to avoid HIV infection and insurance companies are holding it against them?

Not only is that not cool, it's also probably illegal.

From The New York Times:

Such denials would amount to illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the companies doing so could be penalized, said Maria T. Vullo, the state’s superintendent of financial services.

The investigation was triggered by an article published Tuesday by The New York Times, she said.

The Times reported that various insurers around the country had denied policies to gay men after learning they took Truvada, a cocktail of two anti-AIDS drugs, to avoid catching H.I.V. through sex. To get insurance, some men even stopped taking the protective drugs.

The practice — known as “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” or PrEP — is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies have shown that people who take the drug every day have nearly a zero chance of becoming infected, even if they are in a long relationship with an H.I.V.-infected person or have sex with many strangers without condoms.

The investigation was prompted by another story in the NY Times about a doctor who couldn't get disability insurance because he admitted to taking PrEP.

Video Of The Day: Bill Maher On Economic Facts

Bill Maher slams the Obama-hating 2016 Republican candidates a...
Watch: Bill Maher slams the Obama-hating 2016 Republican candidates at this week's debate.Video by Occupy Democrats, LIKE our page for more!
Posted by Occupy Democrats on Saturday, September 19, 2015

Bill Maher pulls out facts in response to Republicans who say they want to "take our county back."

Back to what, exactly?

I should note, and regular readers know this to be true, I've been saying exactly this for years now.

10 Ways Obamacare Improved LGBT Access To Health Coverage

(via HealthInsurance.org)

What Success Looks Like

This is what a successful presidency looks like:

• Our dependence on foreign oil is at a 20-year low -- and declining
• Emissions have fallen to their lowest levels in 20 years
• Domestic auto production is at a 12-year high
• Health insurance costs are increasing at the slowest rate since the 1960s

Does anyone have a problem with any of that?

I didn't think so...