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It’s fair to say that many think of AIDS as a health crisis that remains in the past.
Everyone who was around for it remembers the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, but many
people only understand the disease in that historic context, not the very real and
destructive impact that HIV/AIDS has to this day.
HIV is still real and without treatment, it is still life threatening. That is why I am deeply
concerned by the Florida Department of Health’s proposal to slash eligibility for the
AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) from 400% of the federal poverty level to
130%, while eliminating the insurance assistance that helps patients afford coverage. If
implemented on March 1, over 16,000 Floridians living with HIV would lose access to
life-saving medication. According to the Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS Partnership, more than
5,000 residents in Miami-Dade County alone would be affected.
Florida’s ADAP program has been a national model. It achieves a 97% viral suppression
rate, meaning it keeps people healthy, working, and out of the hospital. No other state in
the country has cut ADAP eligibility like this. Not Texas. Not Georgia. Not Alabama. This
would make Florida the only state to dismantle a program that is working.
According to DOH, the cuts are necessary to prevent a $120 million budget shortfall.
That claim does not hold up. ADAP’s insurance assistance program generates more in
drug manufacturer rebates than it costs to operate. The program funds itself. Enrollment
has already declined significantly, and program spending has dropped 32% year over
year. The department’s own data contradicts the $120 million figure. Cutting the
program wouldn’t close a gap. It would collapse the rebate revenue that keeps the
program solvent and shift costs onto local communities instead.
The Partnership estimates that local clinics and safety net providers in Miami-Dade
would absorb an estimated $84 million a year in care for patients who lose coverage.
HIV medication costs nearly $22,000 per person per year. When patients lose access,
they don’t stop needing care. They get sicker. They show up in emergency rooms. The
cost to taxpayers goes up, not down.
ADAP is not a handout. It is a program that produces results, sustains itself financially,
and saves the state money in the long run. Dismantling it is not fiscal responsibility. It is
the opposite.
I sincerely hope that Florida officials do not ignore this issue and that they act to protect
the over 16,000 residents who are counting on this program to stay alive.
