"If I stopped taking the medication that suppresses my HIV, at first I'd feel fine. But over the next few months, my viral load would rise. In the first year or two, it might cause minor havoc (swollen glands, skin rashes). After a few years, it would become AIDS. Night sweats would likely drench my sheets. Wasting would make me look starved. Life-threatening infections, like PCP pneumonia, would become common. Within a decade of stopping meds, I might be dead."
"In the late 1990s, a breakthrough 'cocktail' of HIV meds became available. Since then, treatment options have become more abundant and easier to take, and in the United States, HIV-related mortality rates have plunged. There were some 43,000 deaths here in 1995. In 2023, there were slightly under 4,500."
"The most extreme example is in Florida. Early this month, the state government drastically reduced access to its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, a long-standing federal initiative operated and partly funded by states that provides free or subsidized HIV meds and care. Claiming a $120 million budget shortfall, Florida chopped the annual income-eligibility cutoff for ADAP from about $64,000 to about $21,000."
"Earlier this month, after HIV-activist lobbying, the Florida legislature passed a bill allocating $31 million to keep some of those 16,000 on their meds. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law last week, but the money lasts only through June."
Stopping HIV medication leads to a rise in viral load, resulting in severe health consequences and potentially death within a decade. Historically, the U.S. saw high AIDS-related deaths until effective treatments emerged in the late 1990s, drastically reducing mortality rates. However, recent budget cuts threaten access to medication for many living with HIV, particularly in Florida, where significant reductions in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program could leave tens of thousands without necessary care. Legislative efforts have provided temporary funding, but long-term solutions remain uncertain.
Read at Intelligencer
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