A program helping Floridians access medication for AIDS, which faced cuts earlier in the year before lawmakers approved a stopgap funding measure, still faces an uncertain future amid ongoing budget talks between the House and Senate.
The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) was cut this spring, leaving thousands of HIV-positive Floridians without access to medication, but was temporarily saved after the Legislature approved $31 million in funding.
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That funding, though, expires June 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
The Senate's initial budget plan includes $118 million for program, and the House plan sets aside $68 million. The House also puts the money in reserve, requiring state agencies to get approval from the Legislative Budget Commission before spending more than $1 million.
Lawmakers are in the middle of a special session to resolve differences between the House and Senate over the budget for the next fiscal year. In budget talks Thursday, neither chamber had budged from its position on ADAP funding.
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In January the Department of Health, citing a projected $120 million shortfall caused by federal funding cuts, announced it would be dropping the coverage threshold for ADAP eligibility from 400 percent of the poverty level, a yearly income of $62,600, to 130 percent of the poverty level, or $20,345.
The department 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, before the stopgap funding was approved.
