The Trump administration’s new cruel way of enriching themselves off the layman’s blood, sweat and tears is backsliding on federal funding for HIV programs.
In 1981, the first year that cases popped up in the U.S., HIV had an approximate 50% mortality rate. It spread like wildfire through LGBTQ+ communities, blood transfusion patients and IV drug users. By 1984, when 13-year-old hemophiliac Ryan White was diagnosed with HIV, stigma surrounding the disease was already widespread.
White’s name became synonymous with HIV. Four months after his passing in 1990, Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the House worked together to enact the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, dedicating $220 million in federal funding to states for HIV treatment.
The funding also went to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The quick, bipartisan effort illustrated the severity of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The program still receives funding through the annual appropriations process, as no end date was specified in the legislation.
Today, demand for the program is as high as ever. Over half of people diagnosed with HIV only receive treatment thanks to the program. Trump was aware of this, so in 2019 he began the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative.
This initiative added more federal dollars to the ADAP, focusing on care for 57 “priority jurisdictions.” The goal was to reduce new HIV infections by 90% by 2030.
It is ironic that the EHE Initiative goal he set was so lofty, because House Republicans now want to eliminate the initiative and reduce funding to the ADAP by 20% in their proposed 2026 spending bill. This budget slashing would mean $525 million in taxpayer money will be stripped from serving people in dire need.
Thankfully, Congress didn’t let this bill pass. However, the uncertainty around the budget, delays caused by the government shutdown and rising costs for HIV medication have caused 20 states to place restrictions on providing care for people with HIV.
In Florida, which has the largest enrollment in the program, with 32,000 participants, the eligible income level to be treated by the ADAP has been reduced from $63,000 to $20,000. The leading anti-HIV medication Biktarvy will also no longer be covered.
The aim here is to create instability. If HIV replicates in a patient with only partial protection, it becomes resistant to medication, leading to potential outbreaks.
The more crises Trump can manufacture, the weaker and more fragmented his opponents become. This is not the first Trump-manufactured health issue.
The current measles outbreak and the decline of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other regulatory agencies are direct instances that prove Trump and his administration are purposefully neglecting their duty to protect Americans’ health in favor of personal gain.
Instability such as mass disease without mass recourse to health is ammunition Trump can try to wield to justify war, whether abroad or within domestic borders. The personal gain from war is arguably the motive for the administration’s purposeful destabilization of the country.
Quietly dismantling security and blaming it on obscure external forces or an internal scapegoat is a childish power play that can only succeed if no one is around to investigate.
Trump and his administration make it clear by their attempts to dismantle this piece of legislation that they do not support life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for the American people.
The marginalized communities they persecute are the same ones now suffering from this reduction in government assistance in HIV health care.
If the reason for cutting funding was lack of cash, Trump would not be requesting $50 billion to fund the Pentagon. The money could be put toward HIV healthcare if the ones in power choose to do so.
