HHS announces more than $1.4B for HIV care for people with low incomes
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- The funds are expected to support medication and care for more than 290,000 people living with HIV.
- Nearly 90% of people receiving HIV care through HHS are virally suppressed.
HHS this week announced that it will allocate more than $1.4 billion in funding through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to help people with HIV who have low incomes receive medication and care.
“This funding makes it possible for people with HIV to access life-saving medication and treatment that are proven to improve health outcomes, reduce HIV transmission and save lives,” HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm, MSW, said in a press release.
The funding will help more than 290,000 people pay for HIV medication, co-pays and co-insurance for HIV medication and premiums for health insurance that covers HIV medication through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), according to HHS.
The ADAP, one of five parts of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, covers people with HIV who have limited or no health insurance whose eligibility is usually determined as a percentage of the federal poverty level, according to the HRSA.
The Ryan White program provides medical care, medication and other support services to more than half a million in people in the U.S. with HIV, which represents roughly half the people across the country who have been diagnosed with HIV, Palm noted.
According to HHS, 89.6% of people receiving assistance from the program were virally suppressed as of 2022, a roughly 22% improvement from the 69.5% who were virally suppressed in 2010.
More than three-quarters of people globally with HIV are receiving ART, a rate that has increased by roughly half during the last 15 years, according to UNAIDS. Breakthroughs in HIV continue to be made as well.
HIV treatment can cost upwards of $40,000 per year without insurance, according to HRSA.
“When we talk about affordable medications, one of our top priorities at the HRSA is making sure that everyone we care for who is living with HIV gets the ART they need to live a long and healthy life,” HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson said in the release.
References:
- Biden-Harris administration announces more than $1.4 billion to provide lifesaving HIV medications and health care services to individuals with HIV with low incomes. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/08/20/1-4-billion-provide-lifesaving-hiv-medications.html. Published Aug. 20, 2024. Accessed Aug. 23, 2024.
- HHS. HRSA Ryan White HIV/AIDS program: Part B: AIDS drug assistance program. https://ryanwhite.hrsa.gov/about/parts-and-initiatives/part-b-adap. Last reviewed Feb. 2022. Accessed Aug. 23, 2024.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts