The campaign of 33-year-old Democrat Jack Schlossberg has announced a national initiative aimed at removing financial barriers to HIV prevention. In a move that explicitly challenges the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Schlossberg says the plan will guarantee access to both PrEP and PEP without any patient charges. The proposal, branded the No Pay PrEP & PEP Plan, is being rolled out as Schlossberg competes in the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th District, a contest that includes other contenders such as Micah Lasher, Alex Bores and George Conway, with the primary scheduled for June 23. The candidate frames the effort as a public health necessity rather than a partisan slogan, insisting prevention should be treated as infrastructure and not a luxury.
The plan is built on two central elements designed to close current coverage gaps and shield prevention programs from future political shifts. Schlossberg’s campaign says the first pillar will force both public and private payers to provide every FDA-approved prevention medication with zero cost-sharing, eliminating copays, deductibles and onerous prior authorization that keep people from getting medication. The second pillar is the creation of a permanent HIV Prevention Trust Fund, a dedicated revenue stream meant to prevent year-to-year uncertainty for testing, outreach and linkage-to-care efforts. Schlossberg argues that scientific advances have made prevention possible; the remaining obstacle, he says, is access.
The mechanics of the No Pay PrEP & PEP plan
Under the proposal’s first component, insurers would be compelled to cover all approved PrEP options and any PEP regimens with zero cost-sharing at the point of care. The campaign outlines the elimination of bureaucratic barriers that frequently force patients to pay out of pocket despite nominal coverage. For people lacking adequate insurance, the plan would create a federal voucher program to ensure no one is priced out of prevention. By combining regulatory coverage changes with direct support for the uninsured, the proposal aims to close what advocates call practical loopholes that leave high-risk individuals uncovered.
Pillar two: a permanent prevention fund
The second element, the proposed HIV Prevention Trust Fund, is intended as a long-term financial backbone for prevention activities. Rather than relying on annual appropriations that can be cut, this fund would provide predictable financing for community-based outreach, surveillance, testing and linkage-to-care services that complement medication access. Schlossberg’s campaign has argued that current federal funding is treated like temporary maintenance—comparable to patching potholes—rather than a sustained investment in public health infrastructure. The trust fund would seek to stabilize those programs and insulate them from future policy reversals.
Policy context and federal rollback concerns
Schlossberg’s announcement comes amid a contentious shift in federal public health priorities. During the Biden administration, officials expanded targeted responses to sexually transmitted infections, including nationwide prescribing guidance for doxyPEP, which research from the University of Washington linked to notable declines in syphilis cases. Experts such as Dr. Jonathan Mermin and former Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine have pointed to these measures as evidence that focused, data-driven programs can work. But the current HHS leadership has moved to change funding allocations and administrative structures, prompting warnings from public health groups about the risks of dismantling networks that support prevention.
Funding cuts and administrative changes
Budget documents cited by critics show proposed reductions in research and program support, including a drop in NIH HIV and AIDS research funding from approximately $3.29 billion to $1.91 billion. The HIV and Hepatitis Policy Institute has cautioned that broader reorganizations and funding shifts could amount to more than $1.5 billion in cuts to domestic HIV programs. The administration has also proposed consolidating certain public health functions into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America, a structural change opponents say could weaken targeted prevention work even if medications remain nominally available.
Campaign dynamics and motivations
Schlossberg has made confronting his cousin, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent part of his message, accusing HHS leadership of undermining hard-won protections for LGBTQ+ communities and people at risk of HIV. He frames the dispute as more than political theater: in his telling, rolling back programs and weakening surveillance and outreach threatens the entire prevention ecosystem. While an HHS spokesperson defended the department’s approach as focused on agency priorities and science-based policy, Schlossberg and other public health experts have warned that cuts to the surrounding infrastructure—testing, outreach and linkage programs—could erode gains made in recent years.
Schlossberg roots his commitment in personal and educational influences, recalling lessons from law school about the epidemic and invoking public figures who have advocated for sustained funding. As the primary approaches on June 23, his proposal seeks to reframe access to PrEP and PEP not as optional conveniences but as essential tools that should be free at the point of care. The campaign positions the No Pay PrEP & PEP Plan as a policy solution that pairs scientific progress with guaranteed access, aiming to make prevention reliably available regardless of shifting political winds.