A $27. 1-billion budget proposal released last week by Gov. Tom Corbett included mostly level funding for HIV/AIDS programs in the state, although education and mental-health funding saw deep cuts.
State funding
Corbett recommended maintaining funding for AIDS programs under the state Health Department at $7.1 million.
This category, which two years ago saw a 25-percent cut, supports a statewide comprehensive HIV-prevention program that includes community planning, testing and referral services, health education and risk-reduction efforts, among other activities.
Contractors include the state’s 10 municipal health departments, seven regional Ryan White Care consortia and community-based agencies that are conducting targeted HIV testing.
Health Department director of communications Christine Cronkright said the funding will be distributed in accordance with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and CDC guidance that places emphasis on high-impact interventions.
State funding for STD screening and treatment is proposed to take a 5-percent cut, from $1.82 million to $1.73 million.
Federal funding
Federal funding funneled through the state to the Health Department was also proposed to remain relatively steady, with increases in many areas.
In total, federal HIV funding is slated to amount to about $30.3 million, compared with $26.9 million currently.
In the AIDS Health Education category, funding was suggested to jump from $1.48 million to $1.68 million, and administrative and operational funding for this program — which supports HIV-prevention programs at health departments throughout the state — is proposed to jump from $4.39 million to $7.13 million.
Funding for the HIV Care program is slated to decrease from $12 million to about $11.5 million, while administrative and operational support for this initiative is projected to increase from $4.64 million to $5.58 million. HIV Care money is distributed to local-level health departments that then disperse the money to community-based agencies.
Funding for HIV/AIDS Surveillance stayed level at $1.38 million, while support for Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS decreased from $2.29 million to $2.26 million.
Ryan White support remained level at $753,000.
State budget impact
Jane Shull, executive director of Philadelphia FIGHT, said the state budget proposal is welcome news after several years of deep decreases in HIV/AIDS funding.
“We are grateful that after previous cuts, our funding in this area was not cut this year,” she said.
Cronkright said the allocations are an effective means to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the state.
“We are confident that the proposed state budget, which maintains funding from last year, will not lead to any reduction in services provided through our HIV/AIDS programs,” she said. “We will continue to align our services to make the most impact with available resources by working with county/municipal health departments to maximize federal and state investments and find effective ways to reach targeted populations.”
Despite the seemingly good news for HIV/AIDS funding, Corbett’s budget includes tough recommendations in the education realm.
Funding to state universities would be cut 20-30 percent, on top of drastic cuts the schools saw in the previous budget.
Kevin Burns, executive director of Action AIDS, said he fears that, as legislators work to restore some education funding, HIV/AIDS numbers could take a hit.
“Even though the HIV/AIDS line items were level funded, my concern is that education was so devastated that they’re going to look at pulling money from health to offset those cuts as we go through the negotiation process,” he said. “It sets up this scenario where you have all of these systems in the state that are starved for money and, while they should all be fully funded, all of these worthwhile programs end up fighting over a small piece of the pie.”
The budget also could spell trouble for public-welfare programs, in particular mental-health services: General fund dollars for mental-health programs are slated to drop from $765 million to $166 million.
Some of that funding will be shifted into a new human-services development block grant — which will include mental health, homeless assistance and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment, among other areas — that will put the pool of funding into each county’s hands for it to appropriate locally.
The proposal also calls for the elimination of the General Assistance program, which provides cash aid to victims of domestic violence, disabled and sick adults with no children, those caring for a sick or disabled person, minors living with an unrelated adult and those in drug or alcohol treatment. Approximately 68,000 Pennsylvanians receive assistance from the program annually.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].