An opinion piece in STAT by three Rhode Island public health officials argues that the U.S. is falling behind other countries in eliminating hepatitis C, despite having highly effective curative treatments. The authors point to Pamela Anderson's recent comments about her 1990s diagnosis as a reminder of how far treatment has come, but they stress that the U.S. is not capitalizing on that progress.
The authors note that England, Egypt, and Norway have made major strides through routine testing and free or affordable medication. England, for example, has already treated 80% of its hepatitis C infections and cut deaths by 36% in a decade. In contrast, U.S. new infections rose from 2013 to 2021 and stayed flat through 2023, with nearly 70,000 cases reported that year—double the CDC's target.
They attribute the U.S. gap to high drug costs, insurance hurdles, and stigma, especially toward people who inject drugs. Only about half of Americans with chronic hepatitis C receive medication. The authors argue that curing hepatitis C would save nearly $70,000 in lifetime medical costs per person by avoiding transplants and late-stage disease, making the case for removing barriers to treatment.