A plan to prevent thousands of HIV positive Floridians from losing coverage for their prescriptions is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.
The House on Thursday passed bill (HB 697) that includes a stopgap measure to restore cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
The bill includes $31 million to restore eligibility to over 11,000 people until the Legislature passes a budget. House and Senate leaders are in a stalemate over budget talks and will have to return to the Capitol to pass a spending plan after ending the regular session Friday.
“This is actually something that will absolutely, 100 percent save lives, because if they couldn't get this medication, they wouldn’t make it,” said Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston.
The state Department of Health is also required under the bill to submit monthly accounting reports about the ADAP program to the Legislature, a measure Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, believes is necessary.
“If you knew the teeth-pulling process of trying to just get information about simple numbers and people from a state agency to keep a program alive, you would be infuriated,” Andrade said.
House members on the floor thanked Michael Rajner, an HIV positive Fort Lauderdale resident who has been advocating for legislative action since he heard of DOH’s changes to ADAP.
Rajner said he and other ADAP clients have been frustrated with the lack of transparency from DOH.
“It took me to come up here on a 6½-, seven-hour drive from Fort Lauderdale to testify before a Senate committee to say, ‘We have a crisis,’ ” Rajner said.
He hopes the program will be part of negotiations for the 2026-27 budget.
The bill will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign into law. Legislators on the House floor Thursday said they hope he will sign the bill soon to reactivate access to Floridians who lost coverage.
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During debate in the Senate earlier in the week, senators said the ADAP funding fix has DeSantis’ support. A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment this week.
Thousands of Floridians who rely on ADAP to access HIV medication have been cut off since March 1.
In January the Department of Health, citing a $120 million shortfall caused by federal funding cuts, stated it would be dropping the coverage threshold from 400% of the poverty level, a yearly income of $62,600, to 130% of the poverty level, or $20,345.
The agency also withdrew some of the most popular medications from the list of approved drugs and stopped paying premiums for Affordable Health Care plans in March. Employer-sponsored health care plans are expected to end in April.
The bill does not restore coverage for Biktarvy, the most popular once-a-day pill, and other medications will be switched to generic versions.
For individuals who are on Medicare or an employer-based health care plan, the bill will direct the Department of Health to assist with copays, which allows the agency to apply for rebates to help offset costs.
The bill is a temporary fix, however, and legislators said they would continue to work on the issue throughout budget talks and into the next session.
“There’s a lot that has to be done, but it’s a great day,” Rajner said.
