Pic via dbmathews.com

A Florida House of Representatives Health subcommittee meeting report (.pdf) released Wednesday includes updated information about the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which has the longest waiting list (.pdf) in the U.S.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (known as ADAP) provides medications for the treatment of HIV and AIDS for people who cannot afford to pay because they are unemployed, uninsured or underinsured. It has been in a funding crisis since last year.

According to the update delivered by Tom Liberti, chief of Florida’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS, “as of October 17, 2011, 3,345 applicants remain on the ADAP waiting list,” a cost containment measure that, along with a reduced prescription list, was implemented by Florida in 2010.

The update offered by Liberti indicates that, “based on new funding from” the Health Resources and Services Administration, “the ADAP will be able to serve its existing clients and enroll and serve an additional 1,500 applicants from the ADAP waiting list.”

The report also adds that:

• Currently, Florida’s ADAP has removed 836 from the waiting list and is now serving an estimated 9,091 clients.
• The ADAP Ryan White earmark was increased by $1 million from the previous year’s funding, for a total of $86.2 million.
• The program received $6.6 million in ADAP supplemental dollars, $1,077,279 in Part B Supplemental dollars and $6.9 million in ADAP Emergency Relief Funding.
• The bureau redirected an additional $1 million in General Revenue for ADAP services for a total of $10.5 million.