Democratic congressional candidate Jack Schlossberg is unveiling a national proposal on Sunday to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for HIV prevention drugs while accusing his cousin, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of dismantling federal HIV prevention efforts.
The 33-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy, running in one of the most closely watched Democratic congressional primaries in the country to represent New York’s 12th District, is announcing on Sunday afternoon a two-part proposal he calls the “No Pay PrEP & PEP Plan,” which his campaign describes as a first-of-its-kind national effort to make HIV prevention drugs completely free at the point of care. Central to the plan is a head-on confrontation with Kennedy, his first cousin and the Trump administration’s secretary of Health and Human Services, over what Schlossberg calls a catastrophic rollback of federal HIV prevention funding.
“PrEP is not a luxury drug,” Schlossberg told The Advocate in an exclusive interview. “It is a near-certain HIV prevention tool. If we can prevent HIV, we should not put a price tag on the door.”
Related: Trump admin moves to end federal HIV prevention programs. ‘Catastrophic’ consequences, experts say
Schlossberg is running in a crowded Democratic primary field that includes Manhattan Assembly members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, anti-Trump lawyer George Conway, and several lesser-known candidates. The primary is set for June 23.
What is the No Pay PrEP & PEP Plan?
Schlossberg’s plan has two pillars. The first would require all public and private insurers to cover every FDA-approved PrEP option with zero cost-sharing, meaning no copays, deductibles, or prior authorization requirements. Schlossberg said loopholes in existing coverage rules still leave many patients paying out of pocket. His proposal would also create a federal voucher program for uninsured and underinsured Americans.
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The second pillar is the creation of the first-ever dedicated HIV Prevention Trust Fund, a permanent funding stream intended to protect HIV prevention programs from future budget cuts. “Right now, we fund HIV prevention the way we fund potholes, year to year,” he said. “My No Pay PrEP and PEP plan treats prevention like the critical infrastructure it is. The barrier is no longer science. It is access.”
What Democrats built using science before RFK Jr.
The announcement comes during a volatile moment for LGBTQ+ public health policy.
Under President Joe Biden, federal health officials aggressively expanded LGBTQ-focused HIV and STI prevention efforts, including nationwide doxyPEP prescribing guidelines designed to reduce syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections among gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Recent research from the University of Washington found that widespread doxyPEP use corresponded with dramatic declines in syphilis infections, findings former Biden administration officials hailed as evidence that targeted LGBTQ+ public health policy was working.
“This is an example of successful public health,” former CDC National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention director Dr. Jonathan Mermin, who now serves as dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, told The Advocate last month while discussing the Biden administration’s STI prevention strategy.
Related: America’s most basic HIV protections are in danger as a decade of progress unravels
Former Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine similarly described the administration’s response to rising syphilis infections as a coordinated effort focused on the communities most affected, including LGBTQ+ Americans. However, under Trump, anything LGBTQ-specific, including science and data collection, has been halted to not run afoul of the president’s anti-DEI orders and orders targeting gender identity.
What Trump and RFK Jr. are dismantling
Schlossberg’s plan is a response to the dismantling of that infrastructure.
The Trump administration’s budget proposals, released while Kennedy leads HHS, have included significant reductions in HIV-related funding, including a proposed cut to NIH HIV and AIDS research funding from approximately $3.29 billion to $1.91 billion, according to NIH budget documents.
The HIV and Hepatitis Policy Institute has warned that the administration’s broader reorganization and funding shifts could result in more than $1.5 billion in cuts to programs designed to slow or stop the spread of HIV. The administration has also proposed consolidating HIV treatment and prevention programs, along with other health functions, into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America, though that agency does not yet exist and Congress has not funded it.
Related: Trump admin forced to restore $6.2 million to LGBTQ+ and HIV groups
Critics of the restructuring argue that even if medications like PrEP technically remain available, weakening the public health systems surrounding them, including testing, surveillance, outreach, and linkage-to-care programs, risks undermining the broader fight against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Former White House National HIV/AIDS policy coordinator Demetre Daskalakis, who now serves as chief medical officer at Callen-Lorde in New York City, recently warned in an interview with The Advocate that LGBTQ+ people are being erased from federal public health systems under RFK Jr.’s leadership.
An HHS spokesperson defended the administration’s approach in a statement to The Advocate.
“Secretary Kennedy remains unwavering in his commitment to science-based public health policy, ensuring that the nation’s core health functions remain strong and effective under his leadership,” Senior Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard said. “These grants were terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities.”
Fighting his cousin
Schlossberg, who has been one of his cousin’s most vocal critics since Kennedy joined the Trump Cabinet, said nobody should be listening to RFK Jr.’s medical advice.
“Donald Trump tried to remove the Pride Flag at Stonewall, and my cousin RFK is trying to wave the white flag in the hard-fought fight against HIV and AIDS,” he said. “I will take on RFK directly, and we will win, because we have come too far to do anything else but win this war.
“They fight against vulnerable communities, and they punch down in order to hurt people for some perceived political gain,” he continued. “They’re claiming that they’re saving us money. No, they’re cutting funding for people who rely on it the most and who have the least platform to speak out and fight against it.”
He sees the HIV funding cuts as part of a broader pattern of targeting LGBTQ+ communities. “They have certainly gone after the LGBTQ community, whether it’s trans people and stopping gender-affirming care, there’s a machismo element to the Trump administration and to their political movement,” Schlossberg said. “It’s masculinity in disguise. And there’s nothing manly about it. They’re picking on vulnerable people and trying to take healthcare away from people who need it.”
When asked where Americans should turn for reliable health information, given the administration’s record, from Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism to an Oval Office moment in which the HHS secretary offered Trump unsolicited opinions on over-the-counter pain relievers, Schlossberg quipped, “I see Trump and RFK Jr. as grifters. I’m not sure who’s paying them or how they’re making their money, but none of what they’re saying is making anybody healthier or safer.”
"I actually don't know what they care about," Schlossberg said of Trump and his cousin. "But it's not helping the American people."
A personal mission
Schlossberg traces his commitment to HIV-related causes in part to his first day of class at Harvard Law School, where professor William Rubenstein, a civil procedure scholar and longtime HIV and AIDS civil rights advocate who spent nearly a decade litigating AIDS discrimination cases at the American Civil Liberties Union, delivered a speech about the epidemic that Schlossberg says he will never forget. "I remember feeling moved and also just aware of how important this issue is," he said.
He also invoked a personal hero. "I love Elton John," he said. "He's done so much advocating for funding, being a voice. I want to be like him. Not because I can sing. I can't. But because I care like he does."
