Hope for the best, plan for the worst

People taking anti-HIV drugs face financial hardships due to the cost of the medications, and they need to make informed choices about health care, insurance, and financial benefits that fit their own situation. Social Security payments may be impacted if the patient returns to work, even for a limited time, and that in turn can jeopardize insurance coverage. With the success of new drugs, HIV is no longer automatically considered a disability. Many insurance policies, however, have clauses covering recurrent disabilities and may cover some of the retraining costs if the insured person needs to switch to a different line of work for health purposes.