Five drugmakers are stepping in to help out some 6,500 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients in Florida who would have been dropped from the state’s drug assistance program, which is out of money, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
State Department of Health officials warned lawmakers last month that the AIDS Drug Program was $14 million in the red and that beginning in February, these patients would have to be dropped from the program.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, drugmakers will donate $14 million in drugs to Welvista, a South Carolina nonprofit, which will in turn distribute the drugs to the 6,500 uninsured and under-insured Florida HIV/AIDS patients.
The arrangement will cease on April 1, when Florida is expected to get another round of federal funding under the Ryan White Care Act, reports the News Service of Florida.
Without the rescue plan, the 6,500 patients, who represent two-thirds of the 10,000 Floridians in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, would have been unable to continue their drug regimens, advocates said.
