Proposed Medicaid cuts could threaten lifesaving HIV treatment access, warns Avenue 360.
HOUSTON — With President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” making major cuts to Medicaid, health care professionals and patients are warning of the potentially deadly consequences for people living with HIV.
Avenue 360 Health & Wellness, a community health center in Houston that serves uninsured and low-income patients, including many with HIV, says these proposed cuts threaten access to life-saving medications for thousands of Americans.
An estimated 40 percent of people living with HIV in the United States rely on Medicaid for their treatment..
Biktarvy, the most popular HIV drug, can cost over $5,000 a bottle if you don’t have private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
Dr. Charlene Flash, president and CEO of Avenue 360, said Medicaid is essential to keeping patients alive.
“I’m concerned that we’ll move back in time to a time when caring for people with HIV was a lot more difficult.”
Flash emphasized that Medicaid plays a critical role in ongoing HIV care.
“Medicaid is a key linchpin in that access to care for people living with HIV,” she explained. “And we want to keep it living with HIV, not dying from HIV.”
A recent report from Harris County Public Health showed that cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are rising faster in Houston than anywhere else in Texas. In the city, any cuts to Medicaid are viewed as a matter of life and death
Juan Michael Porter II, an HIV advocate and patient, warned that the cuts could trigger a return to the crisis of earlier decades, when effective treatment was unavailable or out of reach.
“I was off of meds for nearly three months, and I could barely walk,” Porter said. “This will be the return of a crisis. And I’m not trying to be alarmist—I’m just telling you that we’ve been here before, and it’s what happened then. It can happen again.”
When asked if he views the proposed cuts as a death sentence, Porter said, “I do.”
For now, patients at Avenue 360 and similar clinics continue to take the medication that keeps them alive, hoping their access to care won’t be cut off.