TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers are taking rare unanimous action to fund the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program, after more than 10,000 Floridians living with HIV-AIDS were told they would be cut off.
South Florida resident Michael Rajner, who has been living with HIV-AIDS since 1995, returned from Tallahassee after helping push Democrats, Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis to pass a gap funding measure.
The move will help about 16,000 Floridians keep access to HIV-AIDS medication.
“Without these medications people will get sick will end up in the hospital,” Rajner said.
Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Health said it was cutting eligibility for the program, citing a $120 million shortfall driven by rising insurance premiums and federal funding cuts.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a lawsuit in response.
“The cost of treating patients who come in to emergency rooms across the state is so much higher,” said AHF spokesperson Esteban Wood.
Wood called the new funding temporary.
“This bridge funding, this band aid, is only getting us through June 30th. Long term stability is the solution,” he said.
Robert Boo, who has already been dealing with federal funding cuts to HIV prevention programs like those at the Pride Center in Wilton Manors, said the impact has been severe.
“It’s been devastating,” Boo said.
Services there include free and confidential HIV testing and linkage to care, but Boo said staff layoffs and reliance on donations have followed the cuts.
Rajner said keeping people in the program is key to stopping the spread of the virus.
“An individual who is compliant with their HIV treatment the virus is un-transmittable,” he said.
He added that Broward and Miami-Dade counties lead the state in HIV cases.
The AHF spokesperson also noted that a large portion of funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program comes from drug rebate programs.
Activists like Rajner plan to return to Tallahassee in April as lawmakers work on a new state budget.
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