Va.’s failure to protect crucial HIV/AIDS services sets ominous precedent
About 25,000 Virginians are living with HIV and proposed federal cuts to health care funding put their care at risk.
By Eric Bonds
Bonds is a frequent contributor to FXBG Advance. This column was written for Virginia Mercury and originally appeared on July 1.
The federal Ryan White Program was created in 1990 as a safety net for low-income individuals with HIV/AIDS. It was an outcome of congressional legislation that passed with bipartisan support, based on the recognition that medicine alone isn’t adequate for people living with a serious medical condition if their other needs aren’t met. The program is implemented in the commonwealth with its grant funding distributed to various organizations by the Virginia Department of Health.
If someone can’t afford food or housing, or doesn’t have transportation, he or she will have difficulty accessing necessary medical care. If someone with HIV has another medical issue that goes untreated, he or she will be more vulnerable to the virus. These are issues the Ryan White Program was designed to help patients navigate.
As of 2022, there were about 25,000 people living with HIV in Virginia. Community organizations funded through the Ryan White Program serve a significant number of these individuals. Part of the reason why the amount of people living with HIV in Virginia isn’t larger is due to the success of these organizations in testing, treatment, and support.
Despite a long track record of success, the Ryan White funding allocated to community organizations is being severely undercut across Virginia, and it doesn’t seem to be entirely due to DOGE (or the “Department of Government Efficiency”) at the federal level. These cuts are a first test in how the Virginia state government may respond if Congress reduces access to the Affordable Care Act and eliminates Medicaid benefits for tens of thousands of low-income state residents. In a word: shamefully.
In the Hampton Roads region, Minority Aids Support Services recently lost $500,000 in funding to support individuals with HIV/AIDS. In Richmond, Nationz Foundation lost almost half of its funding, and the Capital Area Health Network lost all of its Ryan White program money to provide comprehensive care to individuals with HIV/AIDS, and was subsequently forced to close its wellness program.
Fredericksburg Area Health and Support Services (FAHASS) — which serves a region stretching from from the Blue Ridge to the Northern Neck — experienced an $850,000 funding cut. This translated to the loss of six professionals and broad cuts to important services that were previously provided to individuals with HIV. The discontinued programs include: rental and housing assistance, mental health services for the uninsured, financial support for non-HIV prescription medicine, dental health services and medical transportation.
Taken together as part of a holistic program, these were life-saving services that will be much less accessible for many low-income individuals with HIV. Stacy Wells, CEO of the LGBT Life Center in Norfolk put it this way: “The reality is after the 25 years we’ve been building these programs, they’ve now been dismantled in just months.”
It’s uncertain why these cuts were made. Ryan White funding is allocated by the federal government to states, which then distributes the money to local care providers. While the federal government under the administration of President Donald Trump has sought to reduce funding for health and human services in other areas, news stories across Virginia indicate that these recent cuts were the outcome, at least at some level, of decisions made within state government.
I emailed a Virginia Department of Health spokesperson three weeks ago with a request for more information about the genesis and rationale for the funding cuts, and to learn more about the scope of Ryan White funding reductions across the commonwealth. Despite following up several times and receiving assurances that the information would be coming, I have not yet received it.
For now, it is an open question about why the service providers that care for some of Virginia’s most vulnerable residents are being targeted for budget cuts, especially in a year when the state’s total revenue is more than $200 million dollars over earlier projections.
Maybe low-income people are an easy target? Members of Congress certainly seem to think so as they contemplate measures to reduce access to the Affordable Care Act and add new requirements and restrictions that will cut medical assistance to millions of Americans on Medicaid.
How will our state respond if these cuts are enacted? Will state leaders fight to preserve healthcare access? Will they act with compassion to help those losing the treatments and services that they depend on? The current cuts to HIV/AIDS programs across the commonwealth, happening in a year with a budget surplus, do not bode well.
These cuts have real-life impacts. People will lose access to medical care. Lives will become more difficult, and some lives will be lost prematurely. We are at risk of becoming a more harsh and uncaring society.
It doesn’t need to be this way. Virginia can stand up for its residents and ensure that everyone has access to the lifesaving medical care and support that they deserve. A good place to start would be by restoring funding to the community organizations across the commonwealth that serve individuals with HIV/AIDS.
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Not sure why this otherwise excellent piece pulls its punches. These are decisions made by the “MAGA-lite” Youngkin administration. How Virginia reacts to the Trump administration’s devastating attacks on social services programs (including the VA health system) is inextricably linked to the outcome of the November elections. I can assure the author and my fellow readers that should “full MAGA” Earle-Sears be elected, this is just the start. So, it’s not really how “the state” reacts, it’s how the Virginia electorate reacts.
Thank you for writing sir. Valid questions and points, all.
Seems like worthwhile questions for some journalists to ask Youngkin, Sears, Reid, and Miyares instead of continually printing puff pieces and photo ops...... just a thought.