According to a recent study, an American diagnosed with HIV today can (on average) live 24 years. That is a significant increase over studies in the 1990’s that only offered HIV patients an average 10 year life expectancy.
Why the change? Since 1993 major advances have been made in antiretroviral medications used to treat HIV. Plus, there is more research and education offered to physicians, which helps them in treating the disease. While HIV was once considered a guaranteed death, it is now changing over to a chronic disease.
What is the cost of living that long with a disease like HIV? On average it costs $25,000 per year to treat HIV, so the total cost over 25 years would equal over $600,000. These estimates, however, are based on HIV patients getting the best possible medication from experienced HIV doctors, which does not always happen. Therefore, the estimates may be slightly inflated.
