HEALTH
Cuomo Targets PrEP Costs, Ensures Trans Care
Sweeping LGBTQ health regs eliminate HIV prevention drug co-pays
BY MATT TRACY
Under a package of initiatives
rolled out by
the Cuomo administration
on July 23, out-ofpocket
PrEP costs are being eliminated
in health insurance plans
that cover millions of New Yorkers
and a new guide outlines the gender
affi rming care insurers must
cover.
Under the changes announced
by Governor Andrew Cuomo, insurers
governed by New York State
regulation will be required to provide
PrEP as well as HIV screenings
without cost-sharing, meaning
folks will be able to access the
HIV prevention medication without
spending anything on co-pays
or toward satisfying their deductibles.
Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a series of moves related to LGBTQ healthcare, including wiping out co-pays for PrEP.
The plans required to cover
PrEP include Obamacare and employer
sponsored group insurance
policies, but corporate self-funded
plans — in which the employer,
rather than an outside insurer, directly
pays for the insured enrollee’s
eligible expenses — as well as
MIKE GROLL/ OFFICE OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO
out-of-state plans are exempt from
these requirements because they
➤ CUOMO HEALTH ACTION, continued on p.16
CRIME
Man Arrested in Queens Anti-LGBTQ Attack
Two transphobes hurled slurs, used pepper spray in June Jackson Heights incident
BY MATT TRACY
A man who allegedly
pepper-sprayed a transgender
woman during
an anti-LGBTQ attack
in Queens earlier this summer
has been arrested and hit with
three charges, including two hate
crimes.
David Gonzalez, 34, was busted
at 9:45 p.m. on July 23 for his role
in a June 29 attack during which
he and 24-year-old Paola Custodio
allegedly walked up to two trans
women — Bianey Garcia and Norma
Ureiro — and spouted anti-LGBTQ
slurs before pepper-spraying
them.
Gonzalez was arrested in the
same location where the attack
took place — Roosevelt Avenue and
82nd Street in Jackson Heights —
and charged with two counts of
second-degree harassment and a
third charge of second-degree assault.
The assault charge and one
of the harassment counts were
charged as hate crimes.
During the early morning attack
last month, Gonzalez and Custodio
allegedly called the two women
“fucking faggot,” said “you’re not a
real woman,” and accused them of
being sex workers. According to police,
Custodio was the fi rst to unleash
pepper spray, hitting Garcia
twice before being apprehended.
Gonzalez, who left the scene before
Custodio’s arrest, returned later
and pepper-sprayed Garcia yet
again before fl eeing a second time,
police said.
“I literally was scared,” Garcia recalled
during an interview on July
2. “I didn’t know if he was going to
use a weapon or a knife. I was spilling
water in my eyes. I remember
someone took my hand and put me
on a bench. I sat down and called
NYPD
David Gonzalez has been charged with multiple
hate crimes for allegedly attacking two trans
women in Jackson Heights in late June.
the police again.”
In a phone interview following
Gonzalez’s arrest, Garcia told Gay
City News that she does not like to
see people of color incarcerated but
is still “a little happy” that Gonzalez
was arrested.
“As a community of color, we need
to stop this hate violence against the
trans community and vulnerable
communities,” said Garcia, a former
sex worker who is now an organizer
for Make The Road New York.
“I’m also seeing that my attack is
getting a lot of coverage by the news
because I’m a person who works for
a nonprofi t organization and I do a
lot of work for the community. What
happens to other cases where people
survive hate crimes and police
don’t provide them the service?”
The June 29 attacks were not the
only recent LGBTQ-related hate
crime incidents in New York. Rainbow
Flags at Alibi Lounge, a Manhattan
gay bar, were set on fi re in
separate incidents on May 31 and
July 8. Tyresse Singleton, 20, was
arrested on July 9, charged with
two counts of criminal mischief in
the fourth degree and two counts
of arson in the fi fth degree in connection
with the two incidents.
The criminal mischief counts were
charged as hate crimes.
August 1 - August 14, 2 6 019 | GayCityNews.com
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