- Oct 17, 2011
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At least 10,000 Floridians could loseaccess to life-saving HIV medication because Congress didn’t extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits last fall, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.
The Florida Department of Health is justifying deep cuts to theAIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides medication tolow-income people living with HIV/AIDS, by saying it will prevent a dramatic $120 million funding shortfall.
The department is mailing letters this month to thousands of recipients, telling them they’ll be cut off from the decades-old program on March 1.
His Department of Health has not asked the Legislature to fill in the funding, though Ladapo on Wednesday suggested there may be funding solutions that aren’t onerous. And in Senate committees Wednesday, the department was accused of dropping a bombshell on thousands of Floridians with little notice.
“I can’t understand why there’s been no transparency,” said David Poole, who oversaw Florida’s AIDS program from 1993 to 2005. “There is something seriously wrong.”
The program’s cuts could be especially impactful in Florida, which has long been at the top of the list for states with high HIV rates. In 2016 and 2021, Florida had the highest number of new HIV cases of any state.
Among the states, Florida also has one of the largest shares of people who use the AIDS Drug Assistance Program who are on the federal marketplace: about 31% as of 2023.
Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, called the state’s abrupt changes to the drug coverage program cruel and life-threatening.
“This is a long-established program that’s been around for decades and that people are relying on to live,” Schmid said.
The Florida Department of Health is justifying deep cuts to theAIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides medication tolow-income people living with HIV/AIDS, by saying it will prevent a dramatic $120 million funding shortfall.
The department is mailing letters this month to thousands of recipients, telling them they’ll be cut off from the decades-old program on March 1.
His Department of Health has not asked the Legislature to fill in the funding, though Ladapo on Wednesday suggested there may be funding solutions that aren’t onerous. And in Senate committees Wednesday, the department was accused of dropping a bombshell on thousands of Floridians with little notice.
“I can’t understand why there’s been no transparency,” said David Poole, who oversaw Florida’s AIDS program from 1993 to 2005. “There is something seriously wrong.”
The program’s cuts could be especially impactful in Florida, which has long been at the top of the list for states with high HIV rates. In 2016 and 2021, Florida had the highest number of new HIV cases of any state.
Among the states, Florida also has one of the largest shares of people who use the AIDS Drug Assistance Program who are on the federal marketplace: about 31% as of 2023.
Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, called the state’s abrupt changes to the drug coverage program cruel and life-threatening.
“This is a long-established program that’s been around for decades and that people are relying on to live,” Schmid said.
