With social media feeds, TV ads, and billboards all calling for you to get your PrEP with them, how do you choose? We’ve reviewed all the important benefits of various clinics, to help you decide where to get your PrEP.
- Easy appointments
Most of us have grown to expect hassles and delays in healthcare: waiting on hold to schedule with someone, or scrolling through appointment apps only to find that every appointment is taken, sometimes for weeks.
Well, click your heels together, Dorothy: you’ve always had the power … to access PrEP! We found one clinic that makes appointments easy and stands by them. How about tomorrow? Or even today? Maybe even in the next couple of hours?
Don’t believe us? Try it out yourself. Type “Latinos Salud” into your browser or map app. Once you’re on their website, click “Appointments” (the big yellow button), choose “PrEP enrollment,” select one of their four locations, and click Next. Then sit back and watch the available appointments pour out for you to choose from. This is heaven! I mean, even scheduling a haircut is usually harder than this! No time to schedule? They even take walk-ins at Latinos Salud, though those may require a bit of a wait.
You say you’re not Latino?
Doesn’t matter.
Everyone is welcome at Latinos Salud.
- Service to fit your schedule
Who wants to have to ask their boss for permission to clock out, just so you can rush to a clinic before they close at 5:00 or 5:30 PM? Some PrEP clinics have a special night or two each week when they stay open “late,” maybe to 7:00 or 8:00. Latinos Salud stays open later than any PrEP or STD agency or clinic in the state, to 9:00 PM every weeknight, and half days on Saturdays. Had a last-minute schedule change? They can often cover you by telehealth.
Speaking of scheduling, at Latinos Salud, you can also choose to receive your PrEP as a daily pill or one of the long-acting injectables.
- Is FREE good for you?
There’s a reason that most PrEP clinics advertise for you to visit them: they want your out-of-pocket payments—one for the medical visit, another for the lab fees. It can cost $70, $120, even $190 to get to the point where you get a prescription for the PrEP that your insurance covers for free. How is that free?
Not at Latinos Salud. They waive co-pays entirely. What does that mean? If you have insurance, they’ll scan your card to earn the federally mandated clinic reimbursement. But whatever co-pay or deductible your insurance plan says you owe the clinic, Latinos Salud covers it for you.
- Insured or uninsured
Some clinics have nothing for you unless you walk in with a gold or platinum insurance card. Latinos Salud is almost always able to get you PrEP even if you don’t have insurance. Their Wellness Navigators know the patient assistance program systems, to get you the medication at no charge.
If you’ve had a change in your life situation (lost your job or your employer-covered insurance, coverage under your parent’s plan at age 26, coverage through a spouse’s plan, or you’ve moved), they might even be able to enroll you in good health insurance for free.
Through its ACA Premium Support program, Latinos Salud is paying the monthly insurance premiums for over 500 of their patients. That means, not only do people get their PrEP free, but they walk out having real health insurance—some for the first time in their lives.
- PrEP as part of your whole healthcare
Some clinics begin and end with PrEP. If you’re looking to be screened or treated for other STDs, they don’t offer those services, because there’s “no profit in it.” Latinos Salud believes strongly in the “profit” of a healthy community. So, their navigators and providers screen and treat STDs as well. You can even get DoxyPEP (for protection against bacterial STDs) with your PrEP prescription there, too.
Latinos Salud’s medical providers also take the time to look at your whole health and wellness situation. Some patients who came in only seeking PrEP learned that they had undiagnosed HIV, diabetes or hypertension, and were able to get it treated right there at Latinos Salud before it got out of control. Latinos Salud’s providers have even identified cancer, lupus, and leukemia that patients had no idea were putting them at grave risk.
- Where you belong, and they speak your language
We saved the best for last: once you arrive at one of Latinos Salud’s sparkling clinics, you know you’ve got it made: friendly gay staff at the front desk whisk you through to where the service makes you feel like a VIP.
There are no awkward moments when you sit with one of Latinos Salud’s Wellness Navigators or PrEP Specialists. Prefer Spanish or English? They’re all bilingual. Feeling embarrassed about that last encounter? You can relax: they’re all gay, and we’ve all been there.
What about the switcheroo, when you meet the medical provider? That’s when you get the scorn and judgment, right? Nope. Their providers are gay, too, and about the nicest people you could hope to meet anywhere, let alone in a clinic.
You can get PrEP just about anywhere. If you want a hassle-free experience, the choice is clear.
