Cuts to Florida HIV program require a public health emergency declaration | Opinion

Florida health crisis

More than 16,000 Floridians living with HIV are about to lose access to life-saving medication. Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) recently announced sweeping changes to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), effective March 1, cutting income eligibility from 400% to 130% of the federal poverty level — about $21,000 a year, less than what a full-time minimum wage employee earns — with just 52 days’ notice and eliminating insurance premium assistance.

No public hearing was held, no public documentation was released and no transition plan was provided. Despite requests since 2024, DOH still refuses to show how it calculated the $120 million shortfall it claims.

Tinkering with ADAP has created devastating uncertainty for thousands of vulnerable Floridians. Patients have called the offices of AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Southern Bureau in tears, unsure how they’ll afford their medications next month.

More than 32,000 Floridians rely on ADAP, which provides FDA-approved medications to low-income people with HIV and who have limited or no health insurance. ADAP funds also support treatment monitoring, helping those living with HIV stay on the medications and improve livelihoods.

The state must declare a public health emergency and secure an emergency appropriation to close the $120 million gap. The DOH has said Floridians have the right to “receive services needed to achieve or maintain a high quality of life if they have tested positive” and “obtain health care, free of stigma.” Now, it’s time to honor that commitment.

Esteban Wood,

director of advocacy, legislative affairs and community engagement,

AIDS Healthcare Foundation Southern Bureau,

Fort Lauderdale

Worthy life

On behalf of the Nurse Practitioner Council of Miami-Dade, I express our sadness and outrage for the unjust and unjustifiable killing of fellow nurse and U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis, MN. Pretti was an ICU nurse of many years working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He was killed by a federal immigration officer while expressing his constitutional rights and protecting a female colleague from harm.

We disavow violence toward all Americans and immigrants. The Code of Ethics for Nurses impels all nurses to stand for justice and against human rights violations.

Our condolences to Pretti’s parents, family, colleagues and community. The nursing community grieves with you.

Tom Schlepko,

president,

Nurse Practitioner Council of Miami-Dade County,

Miami

Just gloating

A headline on the Miami Herald’s Jan. 26 front page asked, “Why did Florida’s Attorney General choose MLK day to shoot down race-based laws?”

Obviously, to rub it in!

Allen Lundy,

Cooper City

Be heard

On Jan. 7, federal immigration agents fatally shot Renée Good during an ICE operation. On Jan. 24, Alex Pretti, a 37‑year-old ICU nurse who had been peacefully demonstrating to defend the rights of others, also was killed. They were U.S. citizens. The First Amendment guarantees the right to peacefully assemble, yet both were killed while standing up for justice. These deaths demand urgent accountability.

Meanwhile, hardworking immigrants — many legally here or waiting for hearings — are being detained and deported. Families are being torn apart, lives destroyed and communities live in fear.

I will not be silent out of fear of bullies. This is how countries become police states and fall into tyranny. We’ve seen it happen firsthand in Cuba. It is our right as citizens to speak up before it’s too late.

Delia de Varona Garcia,

Miami

Fair exchange?

Democrats now want to further protect illegal immigrant criminals by vowing to defund ICE.

I wonder how quickly their minds would change if President Trump declared all illegal immigrants could stay if they promised to vote Republican.

Larry L. Solomon,

West Kendall

American tragedy

Will an honest, valid and transparent investigation of ICE and Homeland Security ever take place?

They mock our Constitution and our rights. Furthermore, any government ethics have been demolished.

What is the goal of all of this?

Lois Kahn,

Coral Gables

Electoral risk

Mary Anna Mancuso’s Jan. 21 op-ed, “Maduro’s capture won’t guarantee a GOP boost,” is spot on and a clear warning to the Republican Party that American foreign policy under President Trump is a failure.

Mancuso stated, “…Americans, regardless of party…care about housing costs, groceries, and making ends meet.” Trump is clueless about these things. His fixation with Venezuela and Greenland seemingly are vanity projects designed, maybe, to deflect attention from the Epstein files.

Dictating rules for the world to follow has long been a hallmark of American politics. New, apparently, is the blatant arrogance with which this president is attempting to enforce his claim of American dominance. The new “ugly Americans” will have an impact overseas but little resonance with U.S. voters.

Edward Blanco,

Cutler Bay

Safety is optional

Re: the Jan. 29 Herald online story, “State lawmakers debate whether Miami-Dade needs development buffer around Everglades.” It’s unfortunate that in South Florida, yellow traffic signals, zoning codes and the Urban Development Boundary are seemingly viewed as only suggestions.

Harry Emilio Gottlieb,

Coconut Grove

Unhinged cabinet

President Trump famously said in his second inaugural address that staffing for his administration would be based upon “merit.” Someone at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which runs the immigration enforcement program through ICE and Border Patrol, must not have read the memo.

While many sectors of the administration fall far short of a meritocracy, DHS is, to borrow a phrase popular in that agency, “the worst of the worst.” Deficiencies have been present from the outset, but events of the past month in Minnesota underscore the glaring gap between DHS officials and the concept of merit.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is so overmatched as to warrant her immediate removal, voluntarily or involuntarily. The discredited overseer of the ground force, Greg Bovino, ran his operation like a version of the Nazi Gestapo before he was belatedly removed from his position.

If this is meritocracy, one wonders what lack of merit looks like. Placing such people in roles of responsibility is not meritocracy, but cronyism at best, or worst.

Marshall H. Tanick,

Naples

Simulate this

While reading the very moving and excellent reprinted Herald news stories about the space shuttle Challenger, I couldn’t help but think, “Let’s see AI pull that off.”

Robert Gray,

Tamarac

Trump hypocrisy

In the Jan. 25 story, “Iran warns Middle East will ‘collapse’ if government falls amid U.S. threats,” a Trump administration official told Newsweek, “…the president has been clear about the consequences for the Iranian regime murdering protestors…”

Apparently, that prohibition does not apply in the United States.

Harry M. Solomon,

Coral Gables

Stay warm

Re: the Jan. 27 story, “Miami will feel the heat, then plunge 35 degrees. How long will the cold last?” The last time this happened, we experienced a mass iguana die-off followed by the feast of the vultures. Quite the spectacle. Burmese pythons in the Everglades did not fare well — a welcome consequence.

Watching the video newsfeed on manatees gathering around warm water sources was interesting, as water temperature below 68 degrees can cause cold stress syndrome in them. Our tropical insects and butterflies cannot tolerate near freezing conditions and tropical fish like tilapia and Goliath grouper are also highly sensitive to cold water. Severe cold fronts can cause extensive fish kills.

Care should be taken with small pets and pets with short fur.

Robert E. Panoff,

Pinecrest