Confession About Testing for HIV/STD's

[VaHawk]

Whatever the cost, I'd bet it is a lot less than the $200+/hr that an escort costs. So why would someone who pays that and more for sex with a total stranger question the cost of a few tests that could save his life?

[JamesK840]

Thanks for your incredibly use____ reply! Maybe so I know how much cash to bring?

 

Also, (anybody else...) do they do the throat culture mentioned above?

[VaHawk]

Well, I apologize if you find my post use____! Btw: it wasn't directed at you alone. Your defense about so you'll know how much money to bring is one of the lamest things I've ever heard! Take a checkbook, your insurance card, a credit card, and if that is not anonymous enough for you, then go to the ATM and withdraw a few hundred dollars! No damn test in a publicly funded facility is going to cost that much.

 

Just wondering what your response would be, if you tested positively?

Are you going to pay for your medications, tests, and perhaps hospitalization costs out of your own pocket? If so, then I hope you are rich, and can do so as that is the only way you'll protect your wish to remain in the closet as an anonymous person.

 

If you are in group health coverage thru your job, you are not going to lose your coverage, and I doubt private coverage can drop you for a non-preexisting condition at the time of your enrollment. Same goes for life insurance. I don't believe an insurance company is going to report your status to your employer, and if by chance they did, I doubt your employer would dismiss you for that, as I do believe it is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities national law.

 

Or were you planning on claiming benefits intended for the truly indigent, just so you could maintain your anonymity as a queer? Costing taxpayers money and depriving some of the truly needy, who don't have the benefits you take for granted.

 

Nothing to do with you, but I think anonymous testing should be illegal. IMO, it opens the door to a lot of questionable ethics both legally and morally. I'm certainly not advocating reporting those tested, but AIDS testing is probably the only area in which anonymity is permissible. Just my opinion, but I feel the costs of this far outweighs the benefits.

[theDCeBOY]

HEY! lay off the green!

[theDCeBOY]

LOL... it was when i was gone. oops... carry on.

[Uncle Bill]

Their website is http://www.aim-med.org and details the tests they do and the fees (bring cash if you want total anonymity). I believe that the full battery of tests totalled $180 (although it's mostly free if you work in the adult film industry, lol).

[JamesK840]

>Your defense about so you'll

>know how much money to bring is one of the lamest things I've

>ever heard!

 

Just as your attempted justification for your reply is one of the lamest I've ever heard!

 

>Take a checkbook, your insurance card, a credit

>card, and if that is not anonymous enough for you, then go to

>the ATM and withdraw a few hundred dollars! No damn test in a

>publicly funded facility is going to cost that much.

 

Have you even looked at AIM's site? There are some groupings that cost $100 or more, and they don't seem to include everything. I'm not kvetching about the price, I just find their tables confusing and want to know how complete a test for everything is, and how much it costs.

 

>Just wondering what your response would be, if you tested

>positively?

>Are you going to pay for your medications, tests, and perhaps

>hospitalization costs out of your own pocket? If so, then I

>hope you are rich, and can do so as that is the only way

>you'll protect your wish to remain in the closet as an

>anonymous person.

>If you are in group health coverage thru your job, you are not

>going to lose your coverage, and I doubt private coverage can

>drop you for a non-preexisting condition at the time of your

>enrollment. Same goes for life insurance. I don't believe an

>insurance company is going to report your status to your

>employer, and if by chance they did, I doubt your employer

>would dismiss you for that, as I do believe it is illegal

>under the Americans with Disabilities national law.

 

If you must know, I'd probably pay to up my coverage and make sure I could switch to the best doctors (i.e. up to PPO coverage instead of HMO). My current general practitioner seems rather incompetent, or at the least ooold, he surely isn't as up to date on the latest info as a doc in Hollywood would be, for example, and the HMO itself seems rather crappy.

 

>Or were you planning on claiming benefits intended for the

>truly indigent, just so you could maintain your anonymity as a

>queer? Costing taxpayers money and depriving some of the

>truly needy, who don't have the benefits you take for

>granted.

 

So all this is about your anti-closet vendetta? Frankly, I don't care about your hang-ups. Weren't you just screaming about my intolerance (of responses that stifle participation, much like yours here, to my simple question...) in another thread? But as for your pet jihad of the day, I'm many, many things other then my sexuality. Hell, I was asexual for quite a long time. Now I've jumped in with both feet, but am not at all sure I'm 'exclusively gay' and even if I was I don't see a single god Damned reason I'd need to share it with my coworkers or most other aquantences. The people I've met whose lives seem to revolve around their being gay seem rather empty to me. Those whose lives revolve around getting laid are quite another matter, a mostly pretty damn happy one...

 

I love your off the wall assumption that my reason for asking how much a service recommended on this board costs (damn, you're right, that's totally unreasonable, I should just have the bank load $5000 in fives into a wheelbarrow, take it in and tell them to take out whatever they need!) is that I'm trying to defraud the government and homeless of their AIDS care.

 

>Nothing to do with you, but I think anonymous testing should

>be illegal. IMO, it opens the door to a lot of questionable

>ethics both legally and morally. I'm certainly not advocating

>reporting those tested, but AIDS testing is probably the only

>area in which anonymity is permissible. Just my opinion, but

>I feel the costs of this far outweighs the benefits.

 

The questionable thing is the way our entire healthcare system is run and what one would have to go through if they changed jobs or were unemployed for a while (common in my industry at least) after the insurance companies knew.

 

I think all in all, it's a good thing it's not up to you.

[JamesK840]

Thanks man!

 

Thanks for the info and great thread! Did they do a throat swap/culture as well as part of that? Did the test leave out any STDs?

 

On the Hep B vaccine, how many trips, how much for the vaccine. Does it eventually need boosters?

[VaHawk]

And imo, it's a good thing it's not up to you!

 

Let's see, the highest price you quoted was $100, so how in the hell does that equate to thousands in $5 bills in a wheelbarrow?

 

I change employers quite often also. And most of those employers have group health coverage which requires no physical examinations and no denial based on pre-existing conditions.

 

I personally don't care if you spend your whole life with 1 foot in the closet and 1 foot out! That's your personal choice and your own business. But all your shenanigans about insisting on anonymity is about nothing execept being afraid of being identified as gay, no matter how much you protest otherwise.

 

And whether you change from HMO to PPO, they are both going to know you are being treated for HIV infection. You can't be treated anonymously and plan on either of them footing the bill, which is all I was trying to state in my previous post.

 

Do you really think that your personal medical info is going to reported to your employer by either the doctor or the insurance company? Not likely, unless you are seeking an excuse for disability leave.

 

My opinion about anonymous testing has nothing to do with "outing" anyone, but all about the legal and ethical ramifications.

[JamesK840]

>Let's see, the highest price you quoted was $100, so how in

>the hell does that equate to thousands in $5 bills in a

>wheelbarrow?

 

I said there were several packages, a couple for $100, and they seemed to cover different things, so I wanted to know what they added up to. $180 is very reasonable, and I continue to think there was nothing unusual about wanting to know before hand. I don't usually hire escorts without an idea how much the session will cost either.

 

>I change employers quite often also. And most of those

>employers have group health coverage which requires no

>physical examinations and no denial based on pre-existing

>conditions.

 

There does seem to be movement away from pre-existence clauses, that's good. Though if there was a period of unemployment, especially without Cobra, I dunno. It still seems like a pretty screwed up system.

 

>I personally don't care if you spend your whole life with 1

>foot in the closet and 1 foot out! That's your personal

>choice and your own business. But all your shenanigans about

>insisting on anonymity is about nothing execept being afraid

>of being identified as gay, no matter how much you protest

>otherwise.

 

There's a difference between discretion and this paranoia you ascribe to me. I'm not even worried about the results, I've played safe and generally do lower-risk things (sexually) anyway. If I had a better GP I would probably be willing to go through him, since I don't, I choose to skip over him and the insurance company, who with their insistence on cheap may well not be as thorough anyway.

 

>And whether you change from HMO to PPO, they are both going to

>know you are being treated for HIV infection. You can't be

>treated anonymously and plan on either of them footing the

>bill, which is all I was trying to state in my previous post.

 

Of course. That was never the issue, for me at least.

 

>Do you really think that your personal medical info is going

>to reported to your employer by either the doctor or the

>insurance company? Not likely, unless you are seeking an

>excuse for disability leave.

 

I've generally been close to the HR person at each company I've worked with, it's surprising how much they know, and what they'll tell friends. Insurance companies may not be the source, but I do think that for small companies the overall rate may be changed if somebody has a catastrophic illness (though that wouldn't be HIV).

 

It's not that I'm interested in discretion in taking the test because I'm afraid the first thing the insurance company would do is call my employer. I simply feel more comfortable being discrete.

 

>My opinion about anonymous testing has nothing to do with

>"outing" anyone, but all about the legal and ethical

>ramifications.

 

It still seems off the wall to me. If I'm living one foot in, one foot out of the closet, as you say, why do you assume I wouldn't openly share bad results on the 'out' side? What exactly would be the point of telling people on the other side?

 

It almost seems that you want people to have the word AIDS branded to their forehead. I agree those that don't disclose it to their sexual partners are despicable, but outside of that where are the legal and ethical ramifications?

[Steven_Draker]

Bump!

 

Just a reminder of how important is to regularly get tested. I did mine a couple of weeks ago and all came out fine.

 

Steven Draker ~

[a href=http://www.hotsexystud.com/uk]website[/a] [a href=http://www.daddysreviews.com/review.php?who=steven_draker_brussels]reviews[/a]

[a href=http://www.aidslifecycle.org/1554]Aids Life Cycle 2009[/a] (soon)

[Guest Merlin]

HOME ACCESS sells test kits in some drug stores or by mail http://www.homeaccess.com. You prick your finger and fill a little circle on paper with blood. Send it federal express in the included prepaid envelope. Three or seven days later, depending on how much you spent for the kit, call them with the serial number on the kit and get the results. You never give them your name is sending the sample. You would give them your name if you buy by mail, but there is no way for them to coorelate the later sample, and they promise secrecy. The 3 day kti costs about $50 and no one but you will ever know.

[Steven_Draker]

Just 30 Percent Of Gay And Bi Men Have Been Tested For HIV In The Past Year, Survey Finds

 

A new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that despite increasing HIV rates among gay and bi men in the U.S., only 30 percent of them have been tested for the virus within the last year. Even worse, 44 percent of gay and bi men under the age of 35 reported having never been tested for HIV in their entire lives.

 

Unsurprisingly, the study also found that these gay and bi men were ill-informed about other aspects of HIV and its treatment, but it also seems that it wasn’t entirely their fault. For example, 56 percent said that a doctor had never recommended they get tested for HIV, and 61 percent rarely or never discuss HIV when they visit their doctor.

 

As a result, only 32 percent knew that new HIV infections are on the rise among gay and bi men, and 22 percent actually thought infections were decreasing.

 

This deficit in testing serves as a significant barrier for preventing new infections. A study recently found that if someone who is diagnosed HIV-positive uses aniretroviral therapy to reduce their viral load to “undetectable” levels, it is virtually impossible for them to transmit the virus to others. Similarly, if those who are negative take a daily regiment of antiretroviral medication known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) — as the World Health Organization now recommends — it can be 100 percent effective at preventing HIV infection. Basically, if those who are HIV-positive begin treatment and those who are negative take steps to prevent infection, the spread of the virus could be significantly curbed.

 

But the gay and bi men in the Kaiser study didn’t know much about this research. Only 25 percent understood that being treated for the virus helps prevent future infection (“treatment as prevention”), and 46 percent were not even aware that guidelines recommend that antiretroviral treatment begin as soon as there is a positive diagnosis. These men essentially did not understand that by not getting tested and remaining ignorant of their status, they are actually at much higher risk of helping to spread HIV to others.

 

Similarly, only 26 percent of the men in the survey knew about PrEP. Eight in ten — a full 80 percent — said that they have heard “only a little” or “nothing at all” about the new prevention option.

 

Anti-HIV stigma within the gay community may very well be contributing to the problem. Two thirds of gay and bi men say they would be uncomfortable being in a long-term sexual relationship with someone who is HIV-positive and 77 percent would be uncomfortable having casual sex with someone who is HIV-positive — and the numbers are even higher for those under the age of 35. This is in spite of the fact that, given the new treatment as prevention options, having sexual relations with someone who doesn’t know his status is actually quite riskier than someone who has been diagnosed as positive and started treatment.

 

Stigma is also perpetuated by laws that attempt to criminalize the transmission of HIV. Several studies have found that these archaic and outdated laws can actually discourage individuals from getting tested because they believe they can’t be prosecuted so long as they don’t know their status. The U.S. Department of Justice has recommended that these laws be repealed because they do not jibe with modern science on the virus, and the Iowa Supreme Court recently overturned an HIV transmission conviction, noting that the defendant’s viral load was undetectable and thus it was not prudent for the law to assume transmission was possible.

 

Kaiser estimates that about 13 percent of gay men are HIV positive. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that in major cities, it could be as high as 20 percent, with as many as a third not knowing that they are positive.

 

source: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/09/25/3572132/30-percent-gay-bi-hiv-test/

 

 

And you, have you been tested recently?