Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill ensuring that some Floridians living with HIV can access three more months of life-saving antiretroviral medications through the state’s ADAP program.
ADAP, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, is a state-level initiative that helps low-income and uninsured people living with HIV access medications that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive.
Amid stagnant federal funding and rising health care costs, many states’ ADAP programs have faced shortfalls, prompting cuts or stricter income eligibility requirements that reduce the number of people who qualify.
In response to an alleged $120 million budget shortfall, Florida introduced an emergency rule earlier this month lowering income eligibility to those earning less than 130% of the federal poverty level, or about $20,500 annually, as previously reported by POZ magazine.
The change threatened to leave between 10,000 and 16,000 Floridians without access to medications needed to achieve viral suppression, or “undetectable” status, which helps prolong life and prevent transmission.
As of 2025, Florida ranks third in the nation for HIV diagnoses, with about 4,290 new cases annually — accounting for roughly 11% of all diagnoses nationwide and far surpassing fourth-place Georgia, which reports 2,511 new cases per year.
HIV advocates warned the proposed funding cut could have serious public health consequences. MISTR, the nation’s largest telehealth platform for sexual health, recently brought several reality TV stars from Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise to Capitol Hill to lobby for expanded access to HIV prevention and treatment. The effort drew national attention, with several stars singling out Florida’s budget cuts as especially concerning.
A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers crafted and passed an emergency stopgap funding bill that cleared both chambers unanimously and was signed into law by DeSantis on March 24.
The stopgap measure provides nearly $31 million to keep the program running through June 30, the end of fiscal year 2026. It also restores the income threshold to 400% of the federal poverty level, allowing enrollees earning less than $64,000 annually to access HIV medications during that period. An estimated 12,000 people will continue receiving coverage through the end of June.
However, Florida lawmakers have not agreed on a final budget for fiscal year 2027, with the Republican-led House and Senate ending the regular session without a deal. A long-term funding solution for ADAP is still needed.
The stopgap bill does not reverse the state’s decision to stop covering Biktarvy, the most widely prescribed antiretroviral medication in the United States. As a result, patients who relied on it through ADAP must switch to alternative treatments — in some cases moving from a once-daily pill to more complex, multi-pill regimens to remain undetectable.
Still, HIV advocates and pro-LGBTQ groups praised the temporary fix as much-needed relief for low-income Floridians.
“For ten weeks, 12,000 Floridians living with HIV did not know if they could fill their next prescription,” said Esteban Wood, director of advocacy and legislative affairs at AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Today, they can.”
The D.C. Council has voted unanimously to advance a bill requiring health insurance companies to cover the cost of HIV prevention drugs, including medications used for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
The vote came after the Council unanimously approved an amendment removing language added in committee that would have required insurers to fully cover only one PrEP drug of their choosing.
The amended bill now states that, for plans issued or renewed after January 1, 2027, an insurer "may not impose cost sharing, require prior authorization, or impose any medically unnecessary restrictions or delays for the coverage of HIV prevention services, PEP, or any formulation of PrEP approved by the FDA."
Judge Mustafa Kasubhai has ruled that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. overstepped his authority by trying to restrict hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors. He found that Kennedy failed to follow required administrative procedures when issuing a declaration last December claiming such care does not meet accepted medical standards.
The so-called "Kennedy declaration" accompanied an HHS announcement proposing two rules aimed at restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Organizers of GayDays Orlando, the annual summer celebration that draws tens of thousands of LGBTQ visitors to Central Florida, have announced that the event will be temporarily "paused" in 2026.
"After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to pause the GayDays Orlando event scheduled for June 2026," organizers from GayDays, Inc. wrote in a Facebook post. "Changes to our host hotel agreement, the loss of key sponsorship support, and broader challenges currently impacting LGBTQIA+ events nationwide made it impossible to deliver the experience our community deserves."
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