Democratic House candidate Jack Schlossberg on Sunday announced a national proposal to eliminate co-pays for HIV prevention drugs, while accusing his cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of dismantling the federal government’s HIV prevention efforts.
President John F. Kennedy’s 33-year-old grandson is running in one of the most-watched elections Democratic Party Lawmakers in the U.S. Congressional primary representing New York’s 12th District are releasing a two-part proposal Sunday afternoon that he calls the “Unpaid PrEP & PEP Plan.” His campaign describes it as the first national effort to make HIV prevention drugs completely free in medical settings. The centerpiece of the plan is a head-on clash with Kennedy, his cousin and the Trump administration’s secretary of Health and Human Services, over what Schlossberg calls catastrophic cuts in federal funding for HIV prevention.
“PrEP is not a luxury drug,” Schlossberg said. defender In an exclusive interview. “This is an almost guaranteed HIV prevention tool. If you can prevent HIV, there’s no need to put a price tag on the door.”
related: While the Trump administration chooses silence on World AIDS Day, we are speaking louder than ever.
related: The Trump administration is moving to end federal HIV prevention programs. ‘Devastating’ consequences, experts say
Mr. Schlossberg is running in a crowded Democratic primary field that includes Manhattan Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Alex Boaz, anti-Trump lawyer George Conway, and several lesser-known candidates. The primary election is scheduled for June 23rd.
What are unpaid PrEP & PEP plans?
Schlossberg’s plan has two pillars. The first would require all public and private insurers to cover all FDA-approved PrEP options at zero cost, meaning there are no copays, deductibles, or prior authorization requirements. Schlossberg said loopholes in existing insurance coverage rules still force many patients to pay out-of-pocket. His proposal would also create a federal voucher program for uninsured and underinsured Americans.
related: President Trump quietly purges Presidential HIV Advisory Council, raising public health concerns (Exclusive)
related: President Trump’s anti-transgender executive order forces CDC to remove HIV resources
The second pillar is the creation of the first-ever dedicated HIV Prevention Trust Fund. This is a permanent funding source intended to protect HIV prevention programs from future budget cuts. “Right now, we fund HIV prevention the same way we fund potholes year after year,” he said. “My unpaid PrEP and PEP plan treats prevention like critical infrastructure. The barrier is no longer science; it’s access.”
What Democrats used to build using science before RFK Jr.
The announcement comes at a precarious time for LGBTQ+ public health policy.
under the president joe bidenfederal health officials aggressively expanded LGBTQ-focused HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevention efforts, including national doxyPEP prescribing guidelines aimed at reducing syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women. A recent study from the University of Washington found that widespread use of doxyPEP was matched by a dramatic reduction in syphilis infections. Praises former Biden administration officials As evidence that public health policies targeting LGBTQ+ people are working.
“This is a public health success story,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, former director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis Prevention and now dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. defender last month while discussing the Biden administration’s sexually transmitted disease prevention strategy.
related: America’s most basic HIV protections are in jeopardy as a decade of progress unravels
Former Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine similarly said the administration’s response to rising syphilis infections was a coordinated effort focused on the most affected communities, including LGBTQ+ Americans. However, under the Trump administration, all LGBTQ-specific activities, including science and data collection, have been suspended to avoid running afoul of the president’s anti-DEI orders and orders targeting gender identity.
What Trump and RFK Jr. are trying to dismantle
Schlossberg’s plan is a response to the demolition of that infrastructure.
The Trump administration’s proposed budget, released while President Kennedy led HHS, includes significant cuts to HIV-related funding, including a proposal to reduce NIH HIV and AIDS research funding from approximately $3.29 billion to $1.91 billion. NIH budget documents.
The Institute for HIV and Hepatitis Policy warned The administration’s sweeping reorganization and funding changes could result in more than $1.5 billion in cuts to programs meant to slow or stop the spread of HIV. The administration also proposes merging HIV treatment and prevention programs, along with other health functions, into a new organization called “HIV.” Government for a Healthy Americabut that agency doesn’t yet exist and Congress hasn’t funded it.
related: Trump administration forces LGBTQ+ and HIV groups to repay $6.2 million
Critics of realignment argue that even if treatments like PrEP are technically available, weakening the public health systems surrounding them, including testing, surveillance, outreach, and care coordination programs, risks undermining the broader fight against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Former White House National HIV/AIDS Policy Coordinator Demetre Daskalakis currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Karen Road Hospital. new york city, Recently warned in an interview and defender that LGBTQ+ Under RFK Jr.’s leadership, people are being wiped out of the federal public health system.
An HHS spokesperson defended the administration’s approach in a statement. Defender.
“Secretary Kennedy is unwavering in his commitment to science-based public health policy and under his leadership is ensuring that our nation’s core health functions remain strong and effective,” said Emily G. Hilliard, senior press secretary. “These grants were discontinued because they did not reflect the agency’s activities.” priority”
fight with his cousin
Schlossberg, who has been Cousin’s most vocal critic since Kennedy joined Trump’s Cabinet, said no one should heed RFK Jr.’s medical advice.
“While Donald Trump tried to take down the pride flag at Stonewall, my cousin RFK is trying to wave the white flag in the fierce fight against HIV and AIDS,” he said. “I will go head-to-head with RFK and we will win, because we are left with no choice but to win this war.
“They fight against vulnerable communities and beat people up to hurt them for political gain,” he continued. “They claim they’re saving us money. No, they’re cutting funding to the people who depend on it the most and who have the least platform to speak up and fight.”
He sees the cuts in HIV funding as part of a broader pattern of targeting the LGBTQ+ community. “They certainly go after the LGBTQ community, whether it’s transgender or ending gender-affirming care, there’s an element of masculinity to the Trump administration and their political movement,” Schlossberg said. “It’s masculinity in a mask. And there’s no masculinity in it. They’re trying to bully vulnerable people and take health care away from people who need it.”
When asked where Americans should look for trusted health information, given the administration’s track record to date, from President Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism to the Oval Office meeting in which the Health Department secretary offered President Trump an unsolicited opinion on over-the-counter painkillers. , Schlossberg quipped, “I think Trump and RFK Jr. are scammers. I don’t know who’s paying them or how they make their money, but none of the things they’re saying are going to make anyone healthy or healthy.” It’s safer. ”
“I don’t actually know what they care about,” Schlossberg said of Trump and his cousin. “But it doesn’t help the American people.”
personal mission
Schlossberg traces his commitment to HIV-related causes in part to his first day of class at Harvard Law School. There, Professor William Rubenstein, a civil litigator who spent nearly a decade litigating AIDS discrimination at the American Civil Liberties Union and a longtime advocate for the HIV and AIDS civil rights movement, gave a speech on the AIDS epidemic that Schlossberg will never forget. “I remember being moved and realizing how important this issue was,” he said.
He also called out his personal heroes. “I love Elton John,” he said. “He has advocated a lot for funding and for his voice to be heard. I want to be like him. Not because I can sing, but because I can’t. But because I care just like he does.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
