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According to the latest CDC HIV surveillance report released this spring, metro Atlanta has the fifth-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses. And that statistic may understate the problem. Patrick Sullivan, an Emory researcher and former CDC director of HIV surveillance, says, “Atlanta has one of the most intense epidemics in the country.” Three of the five core metro Atlanta counties – DeKalb, Fulton and Clayton – are among the top counties nationally in rates of new HIV diagnoses. (Vangala, 6/12)

A year-long battle to decrease discrimination toward HIV patients by health insurers reached another milestone in late March when the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced it would limit HIV patient costs and screen 2016 Affordable Care Act plans for discriminatory practices. In a memo to insurers, Florida’s insurance regulation office noted it will “ensure the plan’s benefit design is not unfairly discriminatory” for all prescription medications and will particularly take close notice of the way plans price HIV medications, which can have co-pays of more than $1,000 a month. (Herrera, 6/12)

Two North Carolina teenagers are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to treat gay men the same as heterosexuals when donating blood. Last month, the FDA proposed new rules that would roll back the lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, acknowledging that the policy is perceived by some as discriminatory. (Wheeler, 6/12)