Findings from National Center for HIV Broaden Understanding of HIV/AIDS (Implementation of health insurance navigation for racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men presenting for community-based HIV testing): Immune System Diseases and Conditions – HIV/AIDS

2026 APR 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at CDC & FDA Daily -- Investigators discuss new findings in Immune System Diseases and Conditions - HIV/AIDS. According to news originating from Atlanta, Georgia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Being uninsured is a barrier to accessing HIV prevention and treatment. This study assesses the implementation of health insurance navigation.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from National Center for HIV, “Randomized structural intervention conducted from 2018-2020 in Chicago, Illinois. Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) presenting for community-based HIV testing (N=230) were offered a single session of health insurance navigation immediately after their HIV test, regardless of HIV test result. Using descriptive statistics, we present socio-demographic characteristics, health insurance navigation uptake, and immediate health insurance outcomes resulting from navigation. Most participants were 18 to 34 years of age (n=175, 76.0%), most identified as non-Hispanic Black/African American (n=202, 87.8%), and most were insured (n=164, 71.3%). Half (n=115, 50.0%) accepted navigation. Of those 115, 10 uninsured participants enrolled in health insurance (8.7%) and 21 began the enrollment process (18.3%); 80 insured participants reviewed their current plan (69.6%), and four changed to a plan better suited to their HIV care needs (3.5%). Almost all 115 were satisfied with the amount of time they had with the navigator (n=114, 99.1%) and the services they received (n=107, 93.0%). Health insurance navigation provided at the time of HIV testing was an acceptable and feasible method to engage Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino MSM in health insurance education and enrollment.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Community-based structural interventions, such as health insurance navigation delivered in tandem with HIV testing, can be used to address health insurance enrollment disparities and to meet national public health and Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) goals.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Implementation of health insurance navigation for racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men presenting for community-based HIV testing. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2026. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes - http://journals.lww.com/jaids/pages/default.aspx)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Craig B. Borkowf, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention, Division of HIV Prevention, Atlanta, GA. Additional authors for this research include Katherine B. Roland, Ilya Teplinskiy, Ellen Almirol, Rebecca Eavou, John A. Schneider and Stephen A. Flores.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/qai.0000000000003876. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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