The Plan in NY to END AIDS will Save $4.5B by 2020 in Medicaid Alone
$4.5 Billions 
$4.5 Billions
$4.5 Billions
NY Plan to End AIDS Will Save $4.5B in Medicaid by 2020, Says Report
Last year, Governor Andrew Cuomo formed the Ending the Epidemic (ETE) Task Force, which was made of HIV/AIDS experts, including members of TAG and Housing Works. The group’s goal was to create a blueprint to end the epidemic in the Empire State by 2020. Specifically, this meant reducing new infections from the 3,200 cases in 2013 to fewer than 750 a year by 2020. It included the goals of identifying undiagnosed people and linking more HIV-positive New Yorkers to care and helping them remain undetectable, as well as providing more access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to HIV-negative people.
This January, the task force completed its blueprint to attain these goals. According to the press release, the plan requires the state to invest an additional $2.5 billion in Medicaid spending between now and 2020—but that investment will result in a net savings of $4.5 billion for that program alone.
The fiscal report released this week from Housing Works and TAG focuses on the costs and savings of the plan, specifically in terms of the New York State Medicaid program, because it covers half of people with HIV in the Empire State.
“[The blueprint] will pay for itself because the number of averted infections will be so great it will save billions of dollars,” Mark Harrington, TAG’s executive director, told The Associated Press. “Which then can be spent on treatment, and on housing, and on many other services we need for people living with HIV.”
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