UPDATE (5/26/2026)
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) welcomed a Florida budget agreement that reverses this year's cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), restoring access to HIV medication for thousands of Floridians.
In a press release from AHF, the deal restores ADAP eligibility to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, reverses drug restrictions the Florida Department of Health had imposed, and provides $75 million to fund the program. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the budget on Friday.
"Florida's health department walked away from people living with HIV. Lawmakers brought them back," Esteban Wood, Director of Advocacy & Legislative Affairs at AHF, said.
ADAP provides Floridians living with HIV access to the medication that keeps them alive. For tens of thousands of people, it is the difference between managing a chronic condition and a medical crisis.
The agreement includes a cap of 21,000 participants on direct dispense enrollment. AHF opposes caps on HIV medication as a matter of principle, saying no one who needs the medicine should ever be turned away.
(3/24/2026):
Governor Ron DeSantis has signed the emergency legislation restoring HIV medication access to more than 12-thousand Floridans.
In a release from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, it states that the $30.9 million in emergency funds will last through June 30, 2026. This comes after the Florida Department of Health slashed ADAP eligibility from 400% to 130% of the Federal Poverty Level on March 1st, eliminating premium assistance, and removing key medications from the formulary, cutting more than 10,000 people off from coverage.
AHF says the law restores Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program’s income eligibility to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, and requires the Department of Health to submit detailed monthly financial reports to legislative leadership beginning April 1st.
The release says the reports must detail all federal revenues and expenditures, including manufacturer rebates, enrollment figures by county and insurance status, prescription utilization by drug class, and any projected funding shortfalls.
Original:
The Florida Legislature has passed emergency bridge funding to restore the AIDS Drug Assistance Program through June 30, 2026, after more than 10,000 low-income Floridians living with HIV lost access to life-saving medications and insurance assistance, according to a release.
The release says the legislation appropriates $30.9 million in emergency funding and restores ADAP eligibility to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. Both chambers passed the measure following months of advocacy and litigation by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and others.
On March 1, the Florida Department of Health slashed ADAP eligibility from 400% to 130% of the Federal Poverty Level, eliminated premium assistance, and removed key medications from the formulary, cutting more than 10,000 people off from coverage.
Esteban Wood, Director of Advocacy and Legislative Affairs for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, says in part,
"No one in the state of Florida should lose access to the medication keeping them alive because of a budget dispute. These are our neighbors. These are people who did everything right. Today, the Legislature stood with them."
AHF applauded the action and credited Senate President Albritton, Speaker Perez, lawmakers, and their colleagues in the House for decisive, bipartisan action.
The legislation now goes to Governor Ron DeSantis' desk. AHF is urging the governor to sign it without delay.
This ongoing battle has been consistent from the beginning. AHF filed two lawsuits challenging the Department of Health's emergency rules. They've also organized dozens of rallies across the state, and worked directly with state legislators and agency staff throughout the crisis. The organization also committed that no AHF patient would go without their medication during the funding gap.
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