Private MD News

Texas may defund HIV treatment program

Category: HIV

Individuals who have received positive HIV tests have significant medical costs. However, it may soon become more difficult for low-income patients in Texas to pay for these expenses, as state lawmakers are considering cutting funding for HIV assistance programs.

Facing a $24 million budget shortfall for the coming year, the Associated Press reports that a senate subcommittee recommended eliminating a program that supplies HIV medications to 14,000 low-income state residents who suffer from the condition.

The move comes despite the committee’s recommendations to add $4.5 billion for other state-supplied health services.

While the budget proposal could be headed to a vote by the full senate, it doesn’t appear to have very much support. One senator said that defunding the program would be the equivalent of making decisions on who lives and who dies, according to the news source.

There are currently more than 1 million individuals in the U.S. who have received positive HIV tests and are in need of medications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Up to 20 percent of these people are unaware of their condition.