HIV+Hep in the News

The infectious disease experts are sounding the alarm as proposals to cut both domestic and global funding for HIV treatment and prevention continue to circulate the nation’s Capitol. President Donald Trump’s “skinny budget” is slim on details, but Executive Director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute Carl Schmid notes in a statement the proposal is silent on HIV prevention funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

By categorizing the drugs as nonessential, insurance companies and pharmacy middlemen can pocket these copay assistance funds without counting individuals’ payments toward their out-of-pocket costs, padding the company’s bottom line while burdening chronically ill patients with huge medical bills. This isn’t unusual — a 2024 study by the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, a group that advocates for patients with chronic health conditions, found that more than 100 large employers, from Target to Bank of America to Brown University, were using prescription drug vendors that classified some covered drugs as “nonessential.”

As summarized by the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, domestic HIV care and treatment programs appear to be largely preserved, but HIV prevention is left out, the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. Most treatment-related components of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program would remain intact, but it could lose ancillary services such as dental care. AIDS housing programs are slated to take a hit. The budget proposal does not include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for HIV prevention, and it is not yet known whether this will be eliminated or moved to another part of HHS.

“Out of 10 branches of the HIV prevention division, five were cut,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, who laments that the federal budget is very political, with wording like “woke liberal.” He points out an even bigger problem for public health: drastic staff reductions at the CDC. “Now they don’t have staff to support grants, so they’re cancelling those and letting state and local governments take over.”

The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute reported that the budget, which was released May 2, “completely ignores HIV prevention at the CDC, which includes surveillance, testing, and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) programs.”