drug prices<\/a> that includes $30.9 million in emergency funding to the program. The law took effect immediately.<\/p>\nThe state health department issued an emergency rule change this month to cut more than 12,000 low-income Floridians off from HIV medication coverage.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s ADAP provides HIV medications and insurance assistance to low-income residents living with HIV. On March 1, the Department of Health reduced eligibility from 400% to 130% of the Federal Poverty Level, eliminated health insurance premium assistance and removed Biktarvy, the most widely prescribed HIV medication in the country, from the program\u2019s formulary.<\/p>\n
The legislation, which passed both chambers of the Florida Legislature unanimously, appropriates $30.9 million in emergency bridge funding through June 30, 2026. The emergency appropriation restores eligibility to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. Medications will be provided through direct distribution to eligible individuals.<\/p>\n
Florida Politics: <\/p>\n
\u201cFor ten weeks, 12,000 Floridians living with HIV did not know if they could fill their next prescription. Today, they can,\u201d said Esteban Wood, Director of Advocacy and Legislative Affairs at AIDS Healthcare Foundation.<\/p>\n
Jon Harris Maurer, Public Policy Director for Equality Florida, said the emergency funding came after advocates spoke out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a powerful reminder of what\u2019s possible when people refuse to stay silent. Because people living with HIV, providers, and other advocates spoke out and demanded action, more than 10,000 Floridians will continue receiving the medications they rely on,\u201d Maurer said.<\/p>\n
New reporting requirements<\/p>\n
Beginning April 1, the Department of Health must submit monthly reports to the Governor\u2019s Office of Policy and Budget, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee. The reports must detail all federal revenues and expenditures including manufacturer rebates, enrollment figures by county and insurance status, prescription utilization by drug class and any projected funding shortfalls. This is the first time the Legislature has required this level of financial transparency from the program.<\/p>\n
The bridge funding and eligibility restoration expire on June 30. The long-term structure of ADAP will be determined by the FY 2026-27 state budget lawmakers will set during a special session.<\/p>\n
Maurer said lawmakers must follow through with long-term funding in the state budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwelve thousand people can breathe a little easier tonight,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – The state\u2019s AIDS Drug Assistance Program is now restored. Gov. Ron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[62402,65240,1442,94088,28,2161,28576,2689,2159,99,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-204778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-adap","tag-aids-drug-assistance-program","tag-cody-butler","tag-drug-prices","tag-florida","tag-government","tag-hiv","tag-lgbt","tag-money","tag-politics","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204778","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=204778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}