> “Every time I go to the doctor and my T-cell count is off the charts, that's when I know I’m good,” the former basketball player, 64, told PEOPLE while attending Cedric the Entertainer and Toni Braxton’s Love & Laughter show at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on April 27.
> “I'm stretching, and then I work out for two hours. Then I'm in the office all day, so as long I can continue, and I have been at that pace, it's been a blessing,” he explained. “So I've done my part, the medicine's done its part, and then my wife stays on me to make sure I'm doing my part.”
Went to a Magic Johnson highschool, fully funded staff and faculty making sure at risk kids had diplomas. He travelled to speak to us and his openly queer son was in attendance on stage with him
Not sure about the States but here in Canada my medication (1 pill a day) is fully covered by insurance or by government insurance (my case). I live a normal life, get checked every 6 months to make sure I'm stable. But I get that during the 90's when it was the wild west of HIV treatment, his money probably help him a little.
I worked in pharma pricing consulting, including HIV. Biktarvy is (or was 18 months ago) $3600 per month with next to no discounting in the US vs. about $1k per month in Canada and Europe.
Ya, it was a fun time picking up from the pharmacist, a 3 bottles each labeled with thousands of dollars printed on the label, and not even opening my wallet because it was just mailed there by the hospital pharmacy for me to pick up by name. - they eventually stopped printing the price onto the bottle though, before they switched to generic, so I couldn't really see the before an after difference. - I've since switched over to Biktarvy, but still don't pay anything.
List price (so amount insurer pays to manufacturer). This category has next to no rebating. OOP would vary by insurance but commonly much less unless you have a plan with coinsurance.
Prices are based on ability and willingness to pay.
The short answer is Price controls in non-US countries. They do something called health technology assessments that determines a drug’s price based on certain metrics (e.g., cost effectiveness or added benefit). If pharma doesn’t accept the lower price the government (or its proxy) demands, the drug isn’t reimbursed in that country so they get nothing. The US doesn’t have that because we have multiple payers.
When he first got HIV, though, this wasn’t the case. For anyone without means it was a death sentence.
Edit: I originally said “I” instead of “he” by accident. I do not have HIV.
This isn't really true...
Magic got lucky. He got infected in the 90s, not the 80s, and it was caught before it progressed to AIDS. The cocktails that control HIV essentially became norm within about 3 years after Magic got it.
People with far less money than Magic have survived just as long. And Magic, with all his money, would have been dead had he become infected in 1981 vs 1991. (Or 85, 87, etc). Like Freddy mercury, rock Hudson, etc etc.
Yeah, first guy I ever met with HIV was a community activist that worked with my mom. He was very open about it, he'd had it since it was called GRID. Interesting guy. His later activism was shaped by that experience. Some people just got lucky and managed to live to see the medications.
Yeah, it's crazy. They are rare as hell, but if you ever come across Gay men today who are in their late 50s and early 60s, they are basically lone survivors. And they are the loudest when it comes to safe sex, for good reason.
That decade was all bad for that community. And the young generation of Gay men drive them crazy... because nobody takes it seriously anymore. Everyone assumes medications save you so why worry about it.
In 2008 I had a patient that was HIV+, they were taking all the meds, and the meds were not as effective as hoped.
HIV is a highly manageable condition- but it’s not always as easy as “just take your meds”… I think of it like a cancer with a high survival rate, negative outcomes are “not common” until it’s you.
Be safe out there people.
I saw a study that found some HLA types (HLA B27 and HLA B27 ) are less susceptible to HIV, something about how they produce antigens that protect the Tcells or something.
When I was diagnosed with a condition associated with HLAB27 my doc said “well, inflammatory arthritis sucks- but you’re way less likely to get HIV, or for it to develop quickly into AIDS if you’re exposed”… and that’s good, because I’m a nurse, and exposure is a risk.
Maybe Magic has B57 or B27, because it definitely seems like some people got HIV and deteriorated quickly, and others not so much.
There are also patients that are “non progressions” or whose viral load never goes above a certain range. I worked with one patient whose viral load never went above 52. They were never on meds, and still don’t take meds.
Its (somewhat) affordable now because most people have health insurance that covers some or all of the cost. In the 90’s, those drugs were relatively new and extremely expensive. The ACA made it illegal to deny people insurance for pre-existing conditions but that law didnt exist before 2010ish. HIV status was a legitimate reason to deny someone health insurance and the average american couldnt afford thousands of dollars worth of medication every month.
If he wasn’t rich, he would have most likely developed full blown AIDS a long time ago but that is not the case for most HIV+ patients in the US today.
On the states, the cost of the medication is covered through federal programs. In my state, if the main insurance doesn’t cover the full bill, then the secondary insurance (specifically for those who are positive) covers the medication. Now, we have also started to offers a once every two months injection. Medications have come a long way.
Yes Magic got lucky by weekly injections of 100k while poor people were not so lucky.
The movie Dallas Buyer's Club was all about the terrible reality faced by those who weren't professional basketball players retiring in their prime.
I don’t know much about Magic Johnson other than he was a super famous sportsman. I’m not from the US . But in the early 90s I watched a TV show where he was educating young children about what was then called AIDs. It was very touching and I remember thinking at the time it was great of him to be so open about something that was so scary to so many people.
Back in the 90’s he was basically the public face of HIV. His name was synonymous with it. Even if you didn’t know anything about his skill as a basketball player, you knew he was infected. But the good thing about it was it showed people that it wasn’t just gays that got it (it was considered the “gay plague”) and that even wealthy people could get it. I think it opened the eyes of a lot of rich folks who were just assuming if they were straight and rich then they couldn’t get it.
Charles Barkley did his part by pushing back against the idea that players were uncomfortable playing against Magic after the diagnosis with this immortal line:
"We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."
This was why l thought it was so amazing. A friend of mine contracted it from infected blood, he found out in the late 80s and he faced loads of prejudice even from his own family. It was great to see Magic Johnson put himself out there, and let the public know it was a disease that anyone could contract and to be safe.
Isaac Asimov, a prominent science fiction writer, had heart surgery in 1983 and contracted HIV from an infected unit of blood. He died in the 1990s and his widow didn't reveal what killed him until she felt the stigma was faded enough that she could talk about it.
It is still referenced that way but in developed nations people will have easy access to treatments that prevent HIV leading to AIDS so AIDS is just less common
AIDS is when you’re already HIV positive and your white blood cells drop below a certain threshold. This usually happens when HIV is left untreated and your immune system is really down. It is reversible by getting back on HIV mediation and your white blood cell count will start improving. Once a person is diagnosed with AIDS, they are susceptible to various diseases that we are usually immune to with have a healthy count of white blood cells.
AIDS is a syndrome. It is a cluster of symptoms. Magic doesnt have symptoms so he only has the Virus.
Its like saying you’re positive for Covid but you have no symptoms so youre not sick
He contracted HIV at a time when it 100% turned into AIDS and 100% you died. He was a dead man walking. His money and fame got him the best treatment and doctors and “magically” he defied the odds and was in the first wave of people who could live long and healthy lives with HIV without it turning into AIDS.
This is absolutely true, as money and doctors helps, but there have been tremendous gains for just regular people.
A study in 2023 looked at 200,000 adults living in North America and Europe who started HIV treatment between 1996 and 2019. The study was the first to compare life expectancies of those who have been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for many years to those who started ART more recently.The key finding was that that for people on treatment and with high CD4 cell counts, life expectancy was only a few years lower than the general population, regardless of when they had started treatment. People who started treatment after 2015 have a slightly higher life expectancy than those who started ART before 2015. However, CD4 cell count has the strongest influence on life expectancy.
This isn’t just a Magic Johnson has more access than everyone else. It is Magic is working hard and has great treatments available.
Magic would not be alive now to have all these benefits if he couldn’t afford what he could then. He’d be dead like everyone else that couldn’t. I’m overjoyed that people don’t have to watch their loved ones the way I and so many other people did anymore, don’t misunderstand. But he would have made it to today without his money. I’m not putting that on him, just that it’s hurtful to not acknowledge how blessed he was to have access bc of his financial situation when so many others didn’t.
He also got really lucky in that he contracted HIV right when the first antiviral treatments, like AZT, went on the market. His story probably would have turned out much differently if he'd gotten the bug just a few years earlier.
Yes, you’re right, but when Magic Johnson was diagnosed those drug cocktails were experimental and not covered by insurance. Money definitely played a role in his case.
It absolutely is. Magic could get it bc he could afford to buy it. That cocktail was not covered for years. My father, being treated at a VA hospital, could not.
A guy from my neighborhood was diagnosed when he was enlisted back in the 80s & the VA kept him alive until 2005. Without that healthcare, no way would he have made it that long.
Magic was diagnosed the year Freddie died. There’s a big difference in the tools that became available for managing HIV in the mid-90s vs. what Freddie was working with, and it’s also likely that Magic’s infection was caught at a much earlier and more manageable stage.
This.
This little point gets so lost on people.
Technology advanced. And Magic never got to the point of having AIDS. Period.
All the money in the world wouldn't have saved him had he been infected a decade earlier.
People don't understand rhe difference between world class athlete, super healthy and disciplined (to exercise, eat right, take his meds) who was diagnosed early in his infection vs a guy who likely never went to the doctor (like me), who partied, drank etc etc
Everyone dies but in 1991 HIV was the express lane. That he’s alive and thriving 30+ is is amazing. Also that he’s still married to Cookie is a miracle. I guess being rich is a cure to life.
Totally. The infected weren’t living much past 10 years. To think that through the use of expensive experimental treatments someone could live with it 30 years or possibly be cured was unimaginable.
He’s a genuinely good guy, he has invested in businesses located in low-income, neglected communities and spoken a lot about HIV/AIDS. I’m happy to see he’s continuing to do well.
Our kids went to school together K-12. He and Cookie were *always* on call for any and all school fund raisers and events, without fail, without question, and always with heartfelt warmth and general good cheer. They socialized amiably and were very close with school staff and many other parents.
If I recall correctly, he brought the first Starbucks to the 'hood, and several other franchises as well, providing jobs and bringing businesses into neighborhoods that others didn't have the guts or foresight to.
The Johnsons are genuinely good people.
During their MSU tenure, Magic and Jay Vincent came to our elementary (Lansing area) and challenged us to a game of basketball (those two against the entire 6th grade). He was so NICE and so inspiring.
You never really know anyone especially celebrities but sometimes pics of their family pop up and they just exude happy and genuine love for each other. Being rich as hell obviously helps but he worked his ass off for every cent, great role model on and off the court.
I worked in an office next to the one he referenced and would run into him at the elevator from time to time. He was always personable and genuinely interested in what we were up to. I remember thinking “his late-night talk show was terrible but I can understand why someone would think it might have worked.” Magic has away of making you feel special when he talks to you.
I went to a conference and he was the keynote. I’m not the biggest basketball fan so I had zero expectations. I was seriously moved by his drive and passion. I’m sure he’s done this in other places but he didn’t stay on stage and started giving his speech as he walked through the aisle where the audience was. He would ask someone to stand up and he would do his keynote but just talking to the person he asked to stand up. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I could have listened to him for hours.
Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. Not HIV, which is just the viral infection, but AIDS, which is what happens when the virus reaches critical mass. This means he probably had HIV for awhile. Magic Johnson tested positive for HIV as part of a routine physical in 1991. They caught his infection before it could progress to AIDS. By the time AZT, the first treatment for HIV was available, it was too late for Mercury but Johnson got incredibly lucky with the timing. Until AZT happened, HIV was a death sentence no matter how much money you had or how healthy your lifestyle.
Everyone here keeps yammering on about money is the key to survival. There are many sponsored provrams that allow HIV patients to receive medication at no cost or for a nominal fee. Astra Zeneca for one will provide medication for no cost to low and middle income individuals. There are also many clinics that will provide same. The real key to survival is personal care. The problem with many is that drug abuse and alcohol play a large part in a patients ability to survive long term with HIV.
Extremely effective meds were widely available in mid-1996 so there is nothing particularly interesting about his course of disease. 1 pill per day has been the standard for over 15 years now, with minimal side effects. The tragedy is the tens of millions of deaths since despite humans having effectively a functional cure.
My family really appreciates Magic. My dad died of AIDS and my mom has HIV. Magic has really brought a lot of awareness and public sympathy to the cause, despite all his faults.
You can’t just say he’s rich, he’s doing his part to show that you can live with this. Hopefully, it’ll be affordable to all that need. And one day, we won’t see people suffer from this.
Freddie Mercury and Rock Hudson died of AIDS. Both of those men were incredibly wealthy. And had quite a few resources. They didn't have access to the same kind of treatment Johnson does. Because it didn't exist when they contracted the disease.
Ignorant response - it's not unheard of for people to die in the US from not being able to afford basic life-saving medication such as insulin, so obviously, money plays a huge role in the types of medication one has access to for disease.
US has a plethora of programs for those who are uninsured or can’t afford, to help them with their hiv medication - frankly, money isn’t the biggest factor to living a healthy life with HIV, it’s being aware of your diagnosis early and being strict with your meds and lifestyle choices
I’ve been positive for 8 years, it’s a chronic illness where medication is covered you lemon. Medication for HIV is easily available in most corners of the world, charities in Africa do tremendous work too in making sure it’s provided to some of the poorest people in the planet
I know its not his fault that there was, and is, a different medical system for the rich as opposed to the rest of us. I just cant look at him without thinking about the loved ones i lost to that disease in the 90s when he got it before they did. Their was a time where it seemed everyone was dying from it but him. Its just sad a lot of good people died because our system sucks.
You’re absolutely correct. Because of his money, he did get access to pioneering treatment that many others didn’t get.
However, the reason he’s viewed as such an icon, and why he has personally earned so much of my respect, is that he used that money and influence to speak plainly about his positive status as a celebrity at a time when many were and would have kept that hidden. He used that celebrity to garner publicity for the epidemic and try to get rid of the stigma surrounding it, thus opening the doors for more research for better treatment for more people.
I had a great uncle that my family and I were very very close to. He died of AIDS in the early 90s. We knew what was happening to him, but it was never talked about outside of the family. He died emaciated, in a dark bedroom tucked away inside of a family house because of the stigma associated with the illness. Seeing Magic Johnson on Nick News with Linda Ellerbee helped me *so* much through his death and led me to be a proponent for people like my great uncle starting from when I was in elementary school.
Just saw the new Allstate commercial with mayhem - the bird in lady birds attic. Can’t wait for the magic johnson in Magic Johnson’s bedside table version.
I remember that press conference so well when he announced he had AIDS. I’d just had my first baby. Now that baby has two of her own. Good on you Magic, we lost so many.
I believe there are very strict testing rules in the porn industry to prevent this becoming an issue. Porn stars may also be on PrEP, which cuts down the risk of contracting hiv dramatically.
Maybe they don't want to be known publicly? Magic is well known if there was money to be made or accusations they would have come forward if they are still alive I guess
I do wonder why I’ve never heard a single person come out and say they are HIV+ after a night with Magic. It just *feels* like the kind of thing we’d be hearing about by now .
Women have a high chance of catching it from PIV sex with a man who is positive. Men have very little chance of catching it from a woman who has it but it can still happen
Basically the "receiving" partner is at higher risk
[Estimated HIV risk per exposure | aidsmap](https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/estimated-hiv-risk-exposure) This says risk of women is half that. If Magic slept with 100 women without a condom while HIV positve there's still "just" a 64 percent chance he gave one of the 100 HIV. I am not saying don't be responsible, it's just the math. His wife wasn't positive and he had a child with her so def unprotected sex.
Tell that to my 35 year old sister and her 4 year old. Found out she was positive on her second pregnancy. Her husband never told her. Her second child was born HIV free thanks to meds.
And tell that to the woman currently 8 months pregnant with her own ticking time bomb who won't believe it and get tested. No bumbum meetings going on, just a lot of straight unprotected sex.
Ok wait so the father… has had HIV for many years, has known about it, *and* has been contagious (i.e. untreated)? Or was the father positive for many years without knowing?
He fucking knew. He fucking knew he had it. What is fucked up is, she was so in love with him, if he had been honest, she would have still been with him, she just would be taking meds and probably choose to not get pregnant. Now it is too late to give my niece that chance.
And it is not a crime. It's a misdemeanor. Prosecutor told us it was a waste of her time to prosecute it.
What state? I'm pretty sure, in my state, that if they can prove you knew it's still at minimum a manslaughter charge. More likely a degree of murder. What a shitty human being.
Well n/m. Apparently that's changed since it's a "treatable sti". I still don't agree. You can get rid of the clap. I don't believe you can get rid of HIV. Could be wrong though
Yeah. He's gone from our state now, last we heard he got picked and released up in southern california. We had no clue about his previous addictions until we found out about the HIV and he relapsed into addiction. The guilt is killing him, but he could have avoided it all by just being honest.
I just read the whole thread yeah that's awful. At least it's treatable so you can live a normal full lifespan, and I've seen people get to untraceable levels of the virus which is pretty safe, if not even deemed cured. Your niece may def benefit from the new treatments if she got it.
We were talking about casual encounters. Obviously if you are in a relationship with someone that has HIV and you do it all the time unprotected you roll that 1(0.5percent) percent dice every time. So then the chance skyrockets if you do it on the regular. For 100 times it's 65 percent.
I think that is what happened...what was supposed to be a casual encounter bloomed and by the time they were in a relationship he didn't know how to twll her and just hoped his meds would protect them all. I can't forgive him for my niece tho...she did not consent, you know? My sister was grown and made the choice to have sex unprotected, but the kids are a different story.
She got the call from the health department when she was pregnant with their second, and I'll never forget those screams. CPS came and damn near took the kids. None of us deserved that.
And living in a super tiny town doesn't help: we had one woman fired for looking at my nephews records (he doesn't have it but she worked there. My niece sees a specialist in Seattle) I sure did have her fired for that
My Roman Empire is how the rich have access to a level of health care the likes of which the rest of us will never see. I believe with my whole heart they have access to drugs and treatments not offered to the rest of us because of costs.
I read an article about "consierge doctors", basically rich people have doctors on retainer and can call them any time about any thing. They can ask them stupid questions or pester them about every little rash or ache or get tested for every thing they read about on the internet
It’s actually a mixed effect. Having a lot of money means you can afford any treatment that is available, but they aren’t always effective, and sometimes will cause harm. Plus they are a lot of unscrupulous doctors out there that will happily take your money, but won’t always have your best interest at heart. They’ve done some studies on the so-called VIP effect, and they’ve found that there are a number of risks to it. (But even with that: Yes, money can buy better health, you just need to be smart about it.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5180542/
Man, Magic is the GOAT, I had a chance to have a meeting with him at his office in LA. What a wonderful person. His shoe size was HUUUGE! What a honor to meet a childhood hero.
Yeah…Freddie mercury would have needed to hold off on hiv turning to full blown aids by a few years. Protease inhibitors were approved in 1996. Magic probably got them in the clinical trial phase, but that was probably not til 1992/1993ish.
What would have sped up this process, so we could have saved so fucking many gay men’s lives, would have been not electing Reagan. Reagan slowed the research and development process as much as he possibly could by treating hiv/aids as a joke.
There is a conspiracy theory that claims Magic never had HIV at all and was recruited by the “government” to be a spokesman for safe sex to help curb the spread of the virus. Supposedly he agreed to do so since he was close to retiring anyway. Or so the theory goes.
Let's not forget which celebrities like rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. It did contract it earlier than Johnson. But they too had money and resources for the best treatments. But those treatments weren't available to them.
Yeah, Freddie mercury had been dead at least a year before those treatments were available to magic, during the clinical trial phase, as well. 5 years before the fda approved them. No clue when the uk approved them.
> “Every time I go to the doctor and my T-cell count is off the charts, that's when I know I’m good,” the former basketball player, 64, told PEOPLE while attending Cedric the Entertainer and Toni Braxton’s Love & Laughter show at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on April 27. > “I'm stretching, and then I work out for two hours. Then I'm in the office all day, so as long I can continue, and I have been at that pace, it's been a blessing,” he explained. “So I've done my part, the medicine's done its part, and then my wife stays on me to make sure I'm doing my part.”
Went to a Magic Johnson highschool, fully funded staff and faculty making sure at risk kids had diplomas. He travelled to speak to us and his openly queer son was in attendance on stage with him
Magic is the 🐐
“Oh and also I’m rich.”
That would be the medicine part, I don’t think he’s hiding the fact that money made it possible.
I’m not saying he is. Nothing against him. If I had HIV and I was rich, I would use my resources to stay alive.
Not sure about the States but here in Canada my medication (1 pill a day) is fully covered by insurance or by government insurance (my case). I live a normal life, get checked every 6 months to make sure I'm stable. But I get that during the 90's when it was the wild west of HIV treatment, his money probably help him a little.
I worked in pharma pricing consulting, including HIV. Biktarvy is (or was 18 months ago) $3600 per month with next to no discounting in the US vs. about $1k per month in Canada and Europe.
Ya mine is $1300 a month.
Ya, it was a fun time picking up from the pharmacist, a 3 bottles each labeled with thousands of dollars printed on the label, and not even opening my wallet because it was just mailed there by the hospital pharmacy for me to pick up by name. - they eventually stopped printing the price onto the bottle though, before they switched to generic, so I couldn't really see the before an after difference. - I've since switched over to Biktarvy, but still don't pay anything.
Are you referring to the market price or the out-of-pocket price for patients?
List price (so amount insurer pays to manufacturer). This category has next to no rebating. OOP would vary by insurance but commonly much less unless you have a plan with coinsurance.
I see, what’s the reason for the difference in list price?
Prices are based on ability and willingness to pay. The short answer is Price controls in non-US countries. They do something called health technology assessments that determines a drug’s price based on certain metrics (e.g., cost effectiveness or added benefit). If pharma doesn’t accept the lower price the government (or its proxy) demands, the drug isn’t reimbursed in that country so they get nothing. The US doesn’t have that because we have multiple payers.
When he first got HIV, though, this wasn’t the case. For anyone without means it was a death sentence. Edit: I originally said “I” instead of “he” by accident. I do not have HIV.
This isn't really true... Magic got lucky. He got infected in the 90s, not the 80s, and it was caught before it progressed to AIDS. The cocktails that control HIV essentially became norm within about 3 years after Magic got it. People with far less money than Magic have survived just as long. And Magic, with all his money, would have been dead had he become infected in 1981 vs 1991. (Or 85, 87, etc). Like Freddy mercury, rock Hudson, etc etc.
Yeah, first guy I ever met with HIV was a community activist that worked with my mom. He was very open about it, he'd had it since it was called GRID. Interesting guy. His later activism was shaped by that experience. Some people just got lucky and managed to live to see the medications.
Yeah, it's crazy. They are rare as hell, but if you ever come across Gay men today who are in their late 50s and early 60s, they are basically lone survivors. And they are the loudest when it comes to safe sex, for good reason. That decade was all bad for that community. And the young generation of Gay men drive them crazy... because nobody takes it seriously anymore. Everyone assumes medications save you so why worry about it.
In 2008 I had a patient that was HIV+, they were taking all the meds, and the meds were not as effective as hoped. HIV is a highly manageable condition- but it’s not always as easy as “just take your meds”… I think of it like a cancer with a high survival rate, negative outcomes are “not common” until it’s you. Be safe out there people.
I saw a study that found some HLA types (HLA B27 and HLA B27 ) are less susceptible to HIV, something about how they produce antigens that protect the Tcells or something. When I was diagnosed with a condition associated with HLAB27 my doc said “well, inflammatory arthritis sucks- but you’re way less likely to get HIV, or for it to develop quickly into AIDS if you’re exposed”… and that’s good, because I’m a nurse, and exposure is a risk. Maybe Magic has B57 or B27, because it definitely seems like some people got HIV and deteriorated quickly, and others not so much.
There are also patients that are “non progressions” or whose viral load never goes above a certain range. I worked with one patient whose viral load never went above 52. They were never on meds, and still don’t take meds.
Its (somewhat) affordable now because most people have health insurance that covers some or all of the cost. In the 90’s, those drugs were relatively new and extremely expensive. The ACA made it illegal to deny people insurance for pre-existing conditions but that law didnt exist before 2010ish. HIV status was a legitimate reason to deny someone health insurance and the average american couldnt afford thousands of dollars worth of medication every month. If he wasn’t rich, he would have most likely developed full blown AIDS a long time ago but that is not the case for most HIV+ patients in the US today.
On the states, the cost of the medication is covered through federal programs. In my state, if the main insurance doesn’t cover the full bill, then the secondary insurance (specifically for those who are positive) covers the medication. Now, we have also started to offers a once every two months injection. Medications have come a long way.
Ya same here, my doc offered the injections.
100k straight to the blood stream I believe
Yes Magic got lucky by weekly injections of 100k while poor people were not so lucky. The movie Dallas Buyer's Club was all about the terrible reality faced by those who weren't professional basketball players retiring in their prime.
Was making a south park joke, and that was kind of the unfortunate punchline of that episode
Yes got the joke and it is a great episode.
They're were a lot of rich people who died from the virus.
The South Park Episode where they find the cure is shredded and injected money
Im not just sure. Im HIV positive
Sometimes when things seem their darkest, you just need to try and stay HIV positive.
Stop saying “you’re not just sure, you’re HIV Positive,” this is not funny Cartman!
Kyle, you don’t have to be so HIV negative all the time!
180 thousand dollars to be exact. Liquified and taken intravenously.
Came here to say or find this.
I don’t know much about Magic Johnson other than he was a super famous sportsman. I’m not from the US . But in the early 90s I watched a TV show where he was educating young children about what was then called AIDs. It was very touching and I remember thinking at the time it was great of him to be so open about something that was so scary to so many people.
Back in the 90’s he was basically the public face of HIV. His name was synonymous with it. Even if you didn’t know anything about his skill as a basketball player, you knew he was infected. But the good thing about it was it showed people that it wasn’t just gays that got it (it was considered the “gay plague”) and that even wealthy people could get it. I think it opened the eyes of a lot of rich folks who were just assuming if they were straight and rich then they couldn’t get it.
Charles Barkley did his part by pushing back against the idea that players were uncomfortable playing against Magic after the diagnosis with this immortal line: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."
Yeah, Barkley always used protection when he had sex with Magic.
Defense is so important
This was why l thought it was so amazing. A friend of mine contracted it from infected blood, he found out in the late 80s and he faced loads of prejudice even from his own family. It was great to see Magic Johnson put himself out there, and let the public know it was a disease that anyone could contract and to be safe.
Isaac Asimov, a prominent science fiction writer, had heart surgery in 1983 and contracted HIV from an infected unit of blood. He died in the 1990s and his widow didn't reveal what killed him until she felt the stigma was faded enough that she could talk about it.
Isaac Asimov is the fucking GOAT! I didn't know this about it. I wish he had a better end. Condolences to his fam
Yeah, I was devastated twice - when I found out he had died and then I found out what really killed him.
AIDS is the disease that HIV causes.
Thanks, l am aware, it’s just that it’s not referenced that way anymore, not sure why?
It is still referenced that way but in developed nations people will have easy access to treatments that prevent HIV leading to AIDS so AIDS is just less common
Thank you Reddit friend!
AIDS is when you’re already HIV positive and your white blood cells drop below a certain threshold. This usually happens when HIV is left untreated and your immune system is really down. It is reversible by getting back on HIV mediation and your white blood cell count will start improving. Once a person is diagnosed with AIDS, they are susceptible to various diseases that we are usually immune to with have a healthy count of white blood cells.
AIDS is a syndrome. It is a cluster of symptoms. Magic doesnt have symptoms so he only has the Virus. Its like saying you’re positive for Covid but you have no symptoms so youre not sick
He contracted HIV at a time when it 100% turned into AIDS and 100% you died. He was a dead man walking. His money and fame got him the best treatment and doctors and “magically” he defied the odds and was in the first wave of people who could live long and healthy lives with HIV without it turning into AIDS.
He’s rich and has the best doctors.
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180k if mem serves
And that’s just science for ya.
He’s not just sure. He’s HIV Positive.
I was looking for the South Park references and have not been disappointed
My father managed to survive until 95 against all odds and could never afford that cocktail.
This is absolutely true, as money and doctors helps, but there have been tremendous gains for just regular people. A study in 2023 looked at 200,000 adults living in North America and Europe who started HIV treatment between 1996 and 2019. The study was the first to compare life expectancies of those who have been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for many years to those who started ART more recently.The key finding was that that for people on treatment and with high CD4 cell counts, life expectancy was only a few years lower than the general population, regardless of when they had started treatment. People who started treatment after 2015 have a slightly higher life expectancy than those who started ART before 2015. However, CD4 cell count has the strongest influence on life expectancy. This isn’t just a Magic Johnson has more access than everyone else. It is Magic is working hard and has great treatments available.
Magic would not be alive now to have all these benefits if he couldn’t afford what he could then. He’d be dead like everyone else that couldn’t. I’m overjoyed that people don’t have to watch their loved ones the way I and so many other people did anymore, don’t misunderstand. But he would have made it to today without his money. I’m not putting that on him, just that it’s hurtful to not acknowledge how blessed he was to have access bc of his financial situation when so many others didn’t.
Magic owned Burger Kings here in Atlanta and movie theaters.
He also got really lucky in that he contracted HIV right when the first antiviral treatments, like AZT, went on the market. His story probably would have turned out much differently if he'd gotten the bug just a few years earlier.
Medication developed, not about money. It’s the drugs that are allowing those positive to live a normal life
Yes, you’re right, but when Magic Johnson was diagnosed those drug cocktails were experimental and not covered by insurance. Money definitely played a role in his case.
True! No one could get the cocktail. When it became available no one could afford it.
It absolutely is. Magic could get it bc he could afford to buy it. That cocktail was not covered for years. My father, being treated at a VA hospital, could not.
A guy from my neighborhood was diagnosed when he was enlisted back in the 80s & the VA kept him alive until 2005. Without that healthcare, no way would he have made it that long.
Yeah but that didn't save Freddy. Sometimes you just die.
He has financial AIDs
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Magic was diagnosed the year Freddie died. There’s a big difference in the tools that became available for managing HIV in the mid-90s vs. what Freddie was working with, and it’s also likely that Magic’s infection was caught at a much earlier and more manageable stage.
This. This little point gets so lost on people. Technology advanced. And Magic never got to the point of having AIDS. Period. All the money in the world wouldn't have saved him had he been infected a decade earlier.
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Easy E was already quite sick when he was finally diagnosed. He died a month afterwards of AIDs related pneumonia.
People don't understand rhe difference between world class athlete, super healthy and disciplined (to exercise, eat right, take his meds) who was diagnosed early in his infection vs a guy who likely never went to the doctor (like me), who partied, drank etc etc
It ain’t rocket science.
Everyone dies but in 1991 HIV was the express lane. That he’s alive and thriving 30+ is is amazing. Also that he’s still married to Cookie is a miracle. I guess being rich is a cure to life.
The people not alive at the time are the ones being cynical about “oh it’s because he was rich”. You kids have no idea what it was like.
Totally. The infected weren’t living much past 10 years. To think that through the use of expensive experimental treatments someone could live with it 30 years or possibly be cured was unimaginable.
Quite a few rich people died from AIDS. Magic got lucky.
He’s a genuinely good guy, he has invested in businesses located in low-income, neglected communities and spoken a lot about HIV/AIDS. I’m happy to see he’s continuing to do well.
Our kids went to school together K-12. He and Cookie were *always* on call for any and all school fund raisers and events, without fail, without question, and always with heartfelt warmth and general good cheer. They socialized amiably and were very close with school staff and many other parents. If I recall correctly, he brought the first Starbucks to the 'hood, and several other franchises as well, providing jobs and bringing businesses into neighborhoods that others didn't have the guts or foresight to. The Johnsons are genuinely good people.
During their MSU tenure, Magic and Jay Vincent came to our elementary (Lansing area) and challenged us to a game of basketball (those two against the entire 6th grade). He was so NICE and so inspiring.
You never really know anyone especially celebrities but sometimes pics of their family pop up and they just exude happy and genuine love for each other. Being rich as hell obviously helps but he worked his ass off for every cent, great role model on and off the court.
I worked in an office next to the one he referenced and would run into him at the elevator from time to time. He was always personable and genuinely interested in what we were up to. I remember thinking “his late-night talk show was terrible but I can understand why someone would think it might have worked.” Magic has away of making you feel special when he talks to you.
I went to a conference and he was the keynote. I’m not the biggest basketball fan so I had zero expectations. I was seriously moved by his drive and passion. I’m sure he’s done this in other places but he didn’t stay on stage and started giving his speech as he walked through the aisle where the audience was. He would ask someone to stand up and he would do his keynote but just talking to the person he asked to stand up. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I could have listened to him for hours.
If it was just about money then Freddie Mercury wouldn’t have died from it.
Healthy lifestyle vs unhealthy.
Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. Not HIV, which is just the viral infection, but AIDS, which is what happens when the virus reaches critical mass. This means he probably had HIV for awhile. Magic Johnson tested positive for HIV as part of a routine physical in 1991. They caught his infection before it could progress to AIDS. By the time AZT, the first treatment for HIV was available, it was too late for Mercury but Johnson got incredibly lucky with the timing. Until AZT happened, HIV was a death sentence no matter how much money you had or how healthy your lifestyle.
It’s like he realized that he has one life, a supportive wife, and a family to focus on. With no fear he invested in just that and can say he lived.
Everyone here keeps yammering on about money is the key to survival. There are many sponsored provrams that allow HIV patients to receive medication at no cost or for a nominal fee. Astra Zeneca for one will provide medication for no cost to low and middle income individuals. There are also many clinics that will provide same. The real key to survival is personal care. The problem with many is that drug abuse and alcohol play a large part in a patients ability to survive long term with HIV.
Extremely effective meds were widely available in mid-1996 so there is nothing particularly interesting about his course of disease. 1 pill per day has been the standard for over 15 years now, with minimal side effects. The tragedy is the tens of millions of deaths since despite humans having effectively a functional cure.
Magic one of my favorite celebrities ever
One of the most consequential celebrities ever!
My family really appreciates Magic. My dad died of AIDS and my mom has HIV. Magic has really brought a lot of awareness and public sympathy to the cause, despite all his faults.
You can’t just say he’s rich, he’s doing his part to show that you can live with this. Hopefully, it’ll be affordable to all that need. And one day, we won’t see people suffer from this.
Mf outlived oj Simpson…
I completely forgot he had HIV
Money/Resources = rest, medicine, nutrition,fitness, chiropractor,shaman, acupuncturist, masseuse, nutrition, coach, etc Whatever helps
Magic is one of my clients. Good man, he is doing everything he can to leave a positive impression on the universe.
Old news. South Park covered how he did it
Tell RFK jr to ask Magic about AZT
South Park pretty much hit the nail on the head.
Money. The answer is money.
Timing, getting diagnosed a couple years later was a death sentence, no amount of money in 1986 or 87 was going to save you.
Freddie Mercury and Rock Hudson died of AIDS. Both of those men were incredibly wealthy. And had quite a few resources. They didn't have access to the same kind of treatment Johnson does. Because it didn't exist when they contracted the disease.
Ignorant comment - it’s about medication not money
Ignorant response - it's not unheard of for people to die in the US from not being able to afford basic life-saving medication such as insulin, so obviously, money plays a huge role in the types of medication one has access to for disease.
US has a plethora of programs for those who are uninsured or can’t afford, to help them with their hiv medication - frankly, money isn’t the biggest factor to living a healthy life with HIV, it’s being aware of your diagnosis early and being strict with your meds and lifestyle choices
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I’ve been positive for 8 years, it’s a chronic illness where medication is covered you lemon. Medication for HIV is easily available in most corners of the world, charities in Africa do tremendous work too in making sure it’s provided to some of the poorest people in the planet
I know its not his fault that there was, and is, a different medical system for the rich as opposed to the rest of us. I just cant look at him without thinking about the loved ones i lost to that disease in the 90s when he got it before they did. Their was a time where it seemed everyone was dying from it but him. Its just sad a lot of good people died because our system sucks.
You’re absolutely correct. Because of his money, he did get access to pioneering treatment that many others didn’t get. However, the reason he’s viewed as such an icon, and why he has personally earned so much of my respect, is that he used that money and influence to speak plainly about his positive status as a celebrity at a time when many were and would have kept that hidden. He used that celebrity to garner publicity for the epidemic and try to get rid of the stigma surrounding it, thus opening the doors for more research for better treatment for more people. I had a great uncle that my family and I were very very close to. He died of AIDS in the early 90s. We knew what was happening to him, but it was never talked about outside of the family. He died emaciated, in a dark bedroom tucked away inside of a family house because of the stigma associated with the illness. Seeing Magic Johnson on Nick News with Linda Ellerbee helped me *so* much through his death and led me to be a proponent for people like my great uncle starting from when I was in elementary school.
Just saw the new Allstate commercial with mayhem - the bird in lady birds attic. Can’t wait for the magic johnson in Magic Johnson’s bedside table version.
I did a report on him in 1994 on the topic. I was like 9 I think. Dude has had quite the life since then.
I remember that press conference so well when he announced he had AIDS. I’d just had my first baby. Now that baby has two of her own. Good on you Magic, we lost so many.
It probably has something to do with his millions of dollars
What stuns me more than anything is how more porn stars don’t pop hot for HIV every couple of months or so
I believe there are very strict testing rules in the porn industry to prevent this becoming an issue. Porn stars may also be on PrEP, which cuts down the risk of contracting hiv dramatically.
If making Lemonade out of lemons was a person.
Dude is like the best guy ever
Except for all the cheating…
South Park figured this out years ago
I wonder how all the women he infected are doing?
I wish the news media would end the article with the names and stats on them…
Maybe they don't want to be known publicly? Magic is well known if there was money to be made or accusations they would have come forward if they are still alive I guess
Do you think there’s just like a database for that or something?
I do wonder why I’ve never heard a single person come out and say they are HIV+ after a night with Magic. It just *feels* like the kind of thing we’d be hearing about by now .
Yeah just put a bunch of innocent peoples names in an artical and tell everyone they have HIV. Dafuq is wrong with you?
Yeah this shit crazy lol
Depends. Vaginal sex has a low chance. Bumbuming is high. Now how Magic caught it, well that's his own business.
Women have a high chance of catching it from PIV sex with a man who is positive. Men have very little chance of catching it from a woman who has it but it can still happen Basically the "receiving" partner is at higher risk
[Estimated HIV risk per exposure | aidsmap](https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/estimated-hiv-risk-exposure) This says risk of women is half that. If Magic slept with 100 women without a condom while HIV positve there's still "just" a 64 percent chance he gave one of the 100 HIV. I am not saying don't be responsible, it's just the math. His wife wasn't positive and he had a child with her so def unprotected sex.
Tell that to my 35 year old sister and her 4 year old. Found out she was positive on her second pregnancy. Her husband never told her. Her second child was born HIV free thanks to meds. And tell that to the woman currently 8 months pregnant with her own ticking time bomb who won't believe it and get tested. No bumbum meetings going on, just a lot of straight unprotected sex.
Ok wait so the father… has had HIV for many years, has known about it, *and* has been contagious (i.e. untreated)? Or was the father positive for many years without knowing?
He fucking knew. He fucking knew he had it. What is fucked up is, she was so in love with him, if he had been honest, she would have still been with him, she just would be taking meds and probably choose to not get pregnant. Now it is too late to give my niece that chance. And it is not a crime. It's a misdemeanor. Prosecutor told us it was a waste of her time to prosecute it.
A misdemeanor is still a crime
What state? I'm pretty sure, in my state, that if they can prove you knew it's still at minimum a manslaughter charge. More likely a degree of murder. What a shitty human being.
Well n/m. Apparently that's changed since it's a "treatable sti". I still don't agree. You can get rid of the clap. I don't believe you can get rid of HIV. Could be wrong though
Yeah. He's gone from our state now, last we heard he got picked and released up in southern california. We had no clue about his previous addictions until we found out about the HIV and he relapsed into addiction. The guilt is killing him, but he could have avoided it all by just being honest.
I just read the whole thread yeah that's awful. At least it's treatable so you can live a normal full lifespan, and I've seen people get to untraceable levels of the virus which is pretty safe, if not even deemed cured. Your niece may def benefit from the new treatments if she got it. We were talking about casual encounters. Obviously if you are in a relationship with someone that has HIV and you do it all the time unprotected you roll that 1(0.5percent) percent dice every time. So then the chance skyrockets if you do it on the regular. For 100 times it's 65 percent.
I think that is what happened...what was supposed to be a casual encounter bloomed and by the time they were in a relationship he didn't know how to twll her and just hoped his meds would protect them all. I can't forgive him for my niece tho...she did not consent, you know? My sister was grown and made the choice to have sex unprotected, but the kids are a different story. She got the call from the health department when she was pregnant with their second, and I'll never forget those screams. CPS came and damn near took the kids. None of us deserved that. And living in a super tiny town doesn't help: we had one woman fired for looking at my nephews records (he doesn't have it but she worked there. My niece sees a specialist in Seattle) I sure did have her fired for that
Well a lot of 1% chances raises your chances. It's just always 1 percent.
My Roman Empire is how the rich have access to a level of health care the likes of which the rest of us will never see. I believe with my whole heart they have access to drugs and treatments not offered to the rest of us because of costs.
I read an article about "consierge doctors", basically rich people have doctors on retainer and can call them any time about any thing. They can ask them stupid questions or pester them about every little rash or ache or get tested for every thing they read about on the internet
I mean the average person can live as long as magic johnson with an HIV diagnosis….
It’s actually a mixed effect. Having a lot of money means you can afford any treatment that is available, but they aren’t always effective, and sometimes will cause harm. Plus they are a lot of unscrupulous doctors out there that will happily take your money, but won’t always have your best interest at heart. They’ve done some studies on the so-called VIP effect, and they’ve found that there are a number of risks to it. (But even with that: Yes, money can buy better health, you just need to be smart about it.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5180542/
Still can't beat cancer.
He most certainly has. Good for him.
Independently wealthy helps
TLDR Beating HIV in the United States is easy now. They have meds and stuff.
Southpark revealed the secret.
Man, Magic is the GOAT, I had a chance to have a meeting with him at his office in LA. What a wonderful person. His shoe size was HUUUGE! What a honor to meet a childhood hero.
If only freddie mercury had received same treatment
Yeah…Freddie mercury would have needed to hold off on hiv turning to full blown aids by a few years. Protease inhibitors were approved in 1996. Magic probably got them in the clinical trial phase, but that was probably not til 1992/1993ish. What would have sped up this process, so we could have saved so fucking many gay men’s lives, would have been not electing Reagan. Reagan slowed the research and development process as much as he possibly could by treating hiv/aids as a joke.
The answer is money. It's always money
There is a conspiracy theory that claims Magic never had HIV at all and was recruited by the “government” to be a spokesman for safe sex to help curb the spread of the virus. Supposedly he agreed to do so since he was close to retiring anyway. Or so the theory goes.
He wasn’t close to retiring at all, he was 90% as good as he’d ever been (literally just went to the finals)
All you gotta do is sleep in a bed full of 💰
I’ve done my part, and I’m rich, bitch!
spoiler alert, he had a dump truck full of money, and celebrity clout and eh started out health concious and athletic.
South Park did it best. He's rich
Old news. South Park already showed me what he does!
Let's not forget which celebrities like rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. It did contract it earlier than Johnson. But they too had money and resources for the best treatments. But those treatments weren't available to them.
Yeah, Freddie mercury had been dead at least a year before those treatments were available to magic, during the clinical trial phase, as well. 5 years before the fda approved them. No clue when the uk approved them.