{"id":125671,"date":"2026-01-21T01:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/125671\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T01:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:02:06","slug":"florida-to-cut-120-million-from-aids-drug-assistance-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/125671\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida to cut $120 million from AIDS drug assistance program"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – More than 100 people gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday, urging the state to put more money in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program<\/a> as Florida prepares to cut $120 million from the program starting March 1.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Health will make the program available to about 10,000 fewer people. Currently, people without insurance at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level are eligible. The new limit will shrink to 130%.<\/p>\n

Michael Emanuel Rajner, who uses the program for HIV medication, was among those at the Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here because this matters,\u201d Rajner said. \u201cIt is so critical that those of us living with HIV take our medication on a regular basis as prescribed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state says the cuts are necessary because insurance premiums are skyrocketing and the federal government cut money to the Ryan White grant<\/a>, which is used to fight HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat placed us in a position where we needed to make some changes,\u201d said Joseph Ladapo, Florida Surgeon General.<\/p>\n

Florida Politics<\/p>\n

Ladapo told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services<\/a> last week that the decision didn\u2019t come lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has been literally tirelessly trying to figure out a solution. And they\u2019ve explored multiple solutions,\u201d Ladapo said.<\/p>\n

The cuts come as the HIV rate in Florida<\/a> is increasing, with more than 32,000 people living with the virus in 2024. The AIDS Drug Assistance Program currently serves 30,000 Floridians.<\/p>\n

State Senator Shevrin Jones said the state has money available in the rainy day fund to cover the shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a rainy day. What we\u2019re looking at now is an actually, absolute emergency. Because what is Florida going to do when the healthcare crisis does hit us?\u201d said Jones, a Miami Gardens Democrat.<\/p>\n

Rajner expressed concern about the program\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a whole new storm they are creating,\u201d Rajner said.<\/p>\n

The state is encouraging people who need the medication to connect with other HIV\/AIDS resources<\/a> in their community.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – More than 100 people gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday, urging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[28575,1442,5558,28,62286,2161,571,6584,28576,62287,9503,18152,13324,99,2830,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-125671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-aids","tag-cody-butler","tag-drugs","tag-florida","tag-florida-aids-drug-assistance-program","tag-government","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-hiv","tag-hiv-medication-funding-cuts","tag-insurance","tag-joseph-ladapo","tag-medication","tag-politics","tag-shevrin-jones","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}