Florida's AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list keeps growing

This is truly sad news.
Article posted today in the Florida Independent:
floridaindependent.com...

The AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (known as ADAP) provide 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.

The National Alliance of States and Territorial AIDS Directors’ latest ADAP Watch (.pdf) released today shows that Florida has 4,157 people on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list. Last week, according to ADAP Watch, the number of people on the state’s ADAP waiting list was 4,068.

Nationwide, the number of people on ADAP waiting lists has dropped to 8,804 in 10 states. As of last week (.pdf) that number included at least 9,000 people in 11 states.

Florida’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS data shows that as of Sept. 9 at least 4,100 people were on the Sunshine State’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list. Miami-Dade County had 1,055 people on the waiting list; Broward County had 673. Hillsborough, Orange and Palm Beach counties each had over 300 citizens waiting.

You know, there's a lot of nasty stuff you can contract nowadays. You can't always help it if you pick up a staff infection or get a really terrible respiratory infection, but AIDS can be avoided 99% of the time. People need to start being more responsible and having safer sex. Getting to know someone before sleeping with them, then sticking to one partner is smart and responsible. It's never a good idea to be sharing your body with a lot of people. Preteens and teens need to learn better restraint and respect their bodies more, too. Having a lot of sex with many different people never truly raised anyone's self-esteem. They may say it did, but people lie to themselves all the time. I used to teach 9th grade (14 to 17 year olds) and it's painfully obvious that many young adults look to risky sex in order to feel good about themselves, gain acceptance, and "love". Some of my students had already participated in "sex parties" and others had already contracted STDs.
Things need to change.

Regarding the article, I am shocked by the numbers. Especially since the waiting list rose by almost 100 people in one week. The article isn't very explanatory regarding the reason for the increase, which leads in to my question. I'm wondering if the numbers increased due to unemployment and loss of insurance or are they people who have just discovered that they are infected?

I know it truly doesn't matter why the numbers are increasing at such a rapid rate, but I hope this is a wake up call to some people.

Take care and be safe, everyone!