HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Health advocates are warning that Kansas’ decision to stop providing free HIV testing for many small, rural communities restricts services for some of the most vulnerable in the state.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment used to provide services — such as free HIV testing kits and specimen analysis — to 40 counties.
But since Jan. 1, the health department has cut back, providing those services to only the 10 most populous counties with generally the most cases of HIV, The Hutchinson News reported Monday.
“What we’re really talking about is potentially decreased access to services,” said Michelle Ponce, executive director of the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments. “If there’s not an entity in a community able to provide HIV testing on a basis which clients can afford, it’s not going to be done.”
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The state said the money spent on free testing could be used more efficiently, particularly in counties with low rates of HIV infection.
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He said there are just 2,750 people living with HIV in Kansas and that in some counties the HIV infection rate is so low that spending money on testing in those areas made no sense.
Wilmoth also noted that the new federal Affordable Care Act is expected to provide HIV testing for people who previously were not eligible.
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