Massive Budget Cuts Proposed in “Skinny Budget”

Domestic HIV Treatment Programs Largely Intact while No Mention of Prevention

Washington DC… In response to the release of the “skinny budget” released by the White House today, Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, issued the following statement:

“While there are still many unknowns, what we do know is the budget the Trump administration proposed today contains massive cuts that will damage the future health of our country. On the positive side, it appears that most existing HIV care and treatment programs, including most components of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and its part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, would remain intact. If true, this marks a reversal from the leaked draft budget which eliminated the EHE initiative. However, the budget completely ignores HIV prevention at CDC, which includes surveillance, testing, PrEP programs, and linkage to care. It is not known if it is zeroed out, cut, or moved to another part of HHS, as has previously been reported. The Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative is also not on the list of programs being eliminated, but since it is not a detailed budget this is not fully known. The cuts to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program would impact critical services such as dental reimbursements, training, and community-driven implementation research.

“The budget proposes to eliminate dedicated funding for hepatitis prevention at the CDC and instead proposes to block grant it to the states along with STD, tuberculosis, and opioid-related infectious diseases programs at a cut of $77 million. At HUD, AIDS housing programs are slated to be cut and merged with another program. Research at the NIH is also proposed to be cut by nearly $18 billion and reorganized. While not detailed in the skinny budget, we are assuming that other HIV programs previously slated for elimination will be detailed in the forthcoming formal budget.

“We have already seen a dismantling of many domestic HIV programs with staff cuts, grant terminations, and offices shut down and today’s budget confirms the dangerous direction we are headed in. Fortunately, these are only proposals and cannot become a reality without the approval of Congress. We look forward to explaining to the Congress the critical federal role in addressing infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis, and the serious implications and consequences to the health of our country if these programs are not adequately supported.” 

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The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a national, non-profit organization whose mission is to promote quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions.