The Ryan White Care Act: A model for health care in this country

AIDS United joins advocates around the country in lifting up the Ryan White Care Act, which turns 30 on Aug. 18. The Ryan White Care remains a vital resource ensuring everyone living with HIV, particularly the most vulnerable of us, can access care and treatment.

Jesse Milan Jr., president and CEO of AIDS United, spoke at the closing plenary of the 2020 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment about the hope that the program makes possible for all of us living with HIV.

“The personal and public lesson from young Ryan White is that he said to the world, ‘I’m a person with HIV and my life matters,’” Milan said. “We spent a decade before Ryan died — and all the three decades since — proclaiming to the world that the lives of people with HIV and AIDS matter.”

The Ryan White program provides HIV primary medical care, essential support services and medications for low-income people living with HIV who are uninsured or underserved. Nearly half of all people living with HIV in the United States rely on the Ryan White Program for some aspect of their care.

Watch Milan’s full speech below.

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