43; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.78). Of all HCV+ patients, 66.7% were eligible for anti-HCV treatment. However, only 54.3% of HCV+ treatment candidates had any type of insurance coverage. Finally, only 36.3% of HCV+ patients were potentially eligible for treatment and had health insurance. Conclusion: A high proportion of HCV+ patients are currently uninsured, and many have publicly funded health insurance. Among those who could be candidates for treatment, the rate of insurance coverage is even lower. These findings can have important FDA approved drug high throughput screening implications for health insurance coverage of these patients under the new health care

reform legislation in the United States. (HEPATOLOGY 2011) In the United States, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation.1, 2 Most (80%-85%) of individuals infected with HCV (approximately 3.5 million in the United States) develop chronic HCV infection.3,

4 Symptoms of chronic HCV infection are nonspecific, and many patients remain undiagnosed. In fact, in one study, 75% of patients were unaware of their HCV infection.5 The benefits of treating HCV patients and achieving long-term viral eradication have been established.6 Successful treatment with antiviral therapy improves health-related quality of life in patients with HCV and could potentially reduce morbidity and mortality in patients who successfully selleck screening library eradicate the virus (i.e., have sustained virologic response). Although available treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin is successful in only half of treated patients,7 recent data demonstrate that addition of direct acting oral protease inhibitors to the current treatment

will likely increase the chances of sustained virologic response in the more common genotype 1 patients.8 Whether or not this improved efficacy of the new antiviral treatment demonstrated in clinical selleck trials will translate into a similar increase in the effectiveness at the population level is unclear. The full benefits of treatment may indeed not be realized, largely because a significant proportion of HCV-infected individuals may not even have access to the antiviral treatment or they may be considered ineligible for treatment. Treatment of HCV and its associated monitoring is expensive, with an estimated cost of up to $48,000 per year.7, 9 The cost of treatment and monitoring can be covered by health insurance; however, for uninsured or underinsured individuals, the economic impact can be substantial. With the advent of health care reform in the United States, there is a critical lack of data on the health insurance status of HCV-positive (HCV+) individuals. In addition to insurance coverage, treatment candidacy is another important factor impacting access and receipt of care in HCV-infected patients.