HIV Health Care Access Working Group Urges Congress to Reject Medicaid Cuts – Press Release

Medicaid is the most important source of health coverage for people living with HIV and critical to US national strategy to end the epidemic by 2030

February 6, 2025 – The Federal AIDS Policy Partnership HIV Health Care Access Working Group (HHCAWG), in collaboration with 95 national, regional, and local organizations, urged Congress to reject proposals to cut Medicaid during reconciliation for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal year budgets, arguing that cuts would undermine the national strategy to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. 

With access to regular antiretroviral treatment and care, HIV is not only manageable but also impossible to transmit to others. Medicaid is the most important source of health coverage for people living with HIV, providing coverage for more than 40% of people living with HIV and contributing 45% of all federal funding for domestic HIV care and treatment. It is also a vital source of coverage for other public health epidemics that intersect with and exacerbate the HIV epidemic, such as hepatitis C, sexually transmitted infections, and substance use disorder. 

Medicaid expansion is especially critical. It enables lower income people with HIV who lack access to private insurance to obtain full scope health insurance without having to wait until they become disabled to qualify. It also helps state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs)—payers of last resort for HIV medications for people who are lower income or under- or uninsured—maximize their eligibility criteria and avoid paying the full cost of HIV medications. Expansion is also associated with increased awareness of HIV status among people living with HIV and increased use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), one of the key strategies in the national plan to end the HIV epidemic. 

“A robust, healthy Medicaid program is essential if the  US is to meet its goal to end the HIV epidemic by 2030,” said Elizabeth A. Kaplan, director of health care access and clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. “We call on Congress to reject proposals that cut Medicaid funding and to ensure that people who have HIV can continue to access the healthcare they need.”

The organizations urging Congress to reject Medicaid cuts are listed below. An HHCAWG webinar, Medicaid Cuts Will Hurt People with HIV, is scheduled for February 7 at 11am. 

Contact
Adaobi N. Ezeokoli
Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
aezeokoli@law.harvard.edu

About the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

The Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) advocates for legal, regulatory, and policy reforms in health and food systems, with a focus on the health, public health, and food needs of systemically marginalized individuals. CHLPI’s broad range of initiatives aim to expand access to high-quality health care and nutritious, affordable food; to reduce health- and food-related disparities; to develop community advocacy capacity; and, to promote more equitable, sustainable and effective health care and food systems. 

About The AIDS Institute

The AIDS Institute is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and protecting health care access for people with HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and other serious chronic illnesses. We promote evidence-based, common sense policy changes to end the HIV, viral hepatitis, and related epidemics. Founded in 1985, we achieve our mission through our National Policy Office in Washington, DC; Program and Administrative offices in Tampa, FL, and Research and State Policy in Tallahassee, FL.

About AIDS United

AIDS United is a national nonprofit organization focused on ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. We work to achieve this ambitious mission through strategic grant-making, technical assistance and capacity-building services, and advocacy based on sound public policy analysis.