Trump Administration’s AIDS Denial Raises Healthcare Concerns For HIV+ Americans
The next US administration brings major changes to healthcare starting January 2025. These shifts will affect access to medical services, insurance coverage, and health rights for many Americans.
Critical Health Concerns
Donald Trump named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health And Human Services Secretary. Most concerning is Kennedy’s views on HIV/AIDS. He has promoted false claims that HIV does not cause AIDS, instead pointing to recreational drugs and lifestyle factors. This stance goes against proven science and the 2008 Nobel Prize research by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, who confirmed HIV as the direct cause of AIDS.
RFK Jr.'s past statements and policy proposals, including his questioning of evidence linking HIV to AIDS, should give senators 2nd thoughts about confirming him as HHS secretary, according to an association of LGBTQ health care professionals. https://t.co/N1q2fIaPMu
— Child Health USA (@ChildHealthUSA) November 27, 2024
Their work, plus years of successful HIV treatments, shows the clear link between HIV and AIDS. Kennedy’s views worry health experts because they contradict basic medical facts about HIV care.
Trump also chose Marty Makary for the Food And Drug Administration and Dave Weldon for the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention.
Human Rights Campaign expert Torrian Baskerville shares real concerns about healthcare access. He focuses on medical care for Black communities, trans individuals, and people living with HIV.
HIV Care at Risk
HRC senior public policy advocate Matthew Rose told The Blade: “Those same people who said, ‘Wow, these HIV numbers are really bad and we should do something about it,’ were like, ‘But we hate all these LGBTQ people and their health, and so we’re not going to have any non-discrimination [rules], and we don’t care if we kick them off their health care, and we don’t care if they’re invisible in society.
“Given where the epidemic has always been in the community, it’s hard to end the HIV epidemic without talking about LGBTQ people and the resources that we use in the community, and the lives that we live, and the lives that we have,” he said.
