Tens of thousands of Floridians are facing a life-or-death crisis because Ron DeSantis’ administration has canceled funding for HIV drugs.
The Florida Department of Health has eliminated the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), saying it could not find $120 million from the state budget to cover its costs. The program provides support to low-income people living with HIV, and if funding is not restored, more than 10,000 people could lose access to life-saving medicines.
“The DeSantis administration has spent the last seven years scapegoating the LGBTQ community from the beginning,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. defender. “If there is anything they can do to harm this community, they will do it.”
When Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Act,” the Federal Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025, they stripped funding for Medicaid and restricted access to insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Currently, due to “rising national health insurance premiums,” FDOH is announced The website contains the latest information about ADAP, including restrictions on who is eligible to participate in the program.
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As of 2025, ADAP covers people making up to 400% of the federal poverty level ($62,600 or less). This year, only people making up to 130 percent of the poverty level ($20,345) will be eligible, meaning more than half of the more than 30,000 people enrolled in the program will be affected.
The state claims it can’t find funding for HIV drugs, but investigation from miami herald and tampa bay times It has been revealed that the DeSantis administration misappropriated more than $35 million in taxpayer funds to defeat two constitutional amendments on the 2024 ballot. The amendments that would have legalized recreational marijuana and overturned the state’s six-week abortion ban both received 56% and 57% of the vote, respectively, falling short of the 60% supermajority needed to pass.
“Why is there a national budget shortfall? Where has that money gone?” Freed asks. “Was that money diverted elsewhere, such as trying to legalize cannabis or destroy access to reproductive health care? Even though it has already been revealed that they moved about $35 million from various agencies to cover the costs of trying to destroy citizen initiatives?”
“We have a hell of a lot of money, and that money is in the state of Florida,” Fried continued. “They were able to spend $500 million building Alligator Alcatraz without making any major contracts. We’ve been in a state of emergency for almost two and a half years now. They have the money. They can put that money in a safe. They’re choosing not to.”
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For people taking antiretroviral drugs, discontinuing treatment can be fatal. Not only is the virus more likely to continue to multiply and spread to others, but your body can also build up a resistance to the drug, making it ineffective and limiting future treatment options. outlined According to the National Institutes of Health. Freed warns that even if people don’t take their medication for two weeks, “people can end up in the hospital, become unable to function and lose their jobs.”
Mr. DeSantis could restore funding now by activating the state’s emergency reserve fund. If he chooses not to do so, Freed says, “there will be blood on his hands.”
“This is bullshit. It’s total bullshit. Find the damn money,” she says. “Here’s the thing: It’s simply unconscionable to think that the government of Florida and the United States, with this amount of research and progress, is now potentially sentencing tens of thousands of people to death intentionally or as a result of intentional actions.”
defender has reached out to DeSantis’ office for comment.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
