While we are reassured that the 576,000 low-income people currently accessing care and treatment through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, along with those using PrEP at community health centers, can maintain their services, the obliteration of CDC HIV prevention and surveillance programs is an absurd proposal that will just increase HIV infections and health costs down the road. We urgently call on Congress to reject these cuts in order to ensure that states and community-based organizations have the resources to prevent HIV, which is still a serious infectious disease and results in about 32,000 new cases each year.

In a recent 6 to 3 decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA requirement that insurers must cover USPSTF-recommended preventive services at no cost. Now we must focus on making sure insurers comply with and regulators enforce the law, particularly with new, long-acting forms of PrEP. This victory is all the more important now that the Trump administration is seeking to defund much of CDC’s HIV and hepatitis prevention programs.

We deeply thank Chairman Cassidy and Senator Van Hollen for their bipartisan leadership and dedication to eliminating hepatitis C. This bill, if enacted, will finally provide the necessary resources to ensure that more people are diagnosed and linked to no-cost treatment so that we can eventually eliminate hepatitis C.

In response to the release of a draft HHS budget for fiscal year 2026 that would cut over $1.5 billion of federal funding from our nation’s domestic HIV response by totally eliminating President Trump’s Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative and all CDC HIV prevention and surveillance activities, along with parts of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and minority AIDS programs, we urge President Trump to include funding in his budget to maintain our nation’s HIV response to keep Americans healthy.

The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, along with more than 75 organizations representing patients, providers, and public health advocates, is urging U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to issue a promised federal rule that would close a harmful loophole that allows insurers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and third-party vendors to exploit patient copay assistance programs for financial gain.