AIDS leaders warned about further cuts

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

Leaders of Massachusetts AIDS service organizations were warned this morning to steel themselves for further cuts in spending on HIV treatment, prevention, and education amid deteriorating financial conditions.

Jarrett T. Barrios, a former state senator who now serves as president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, predicted that more reductions in state spending could be just weeks away and that federal cuts may loom, too.

"There will be more cuts in December," Barrios told several dozen people gathered for the annual meeting of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, the largest private provider of HIV counseling and prevention services in New England. "It is not because this governor wants to make cuts. It is because tax revenues are down."

Last month, the administration of Governor Deval Patrick cut more than $1 billion from the state budget in the wake of the nation's financial crisis. At the Department of Public Health, more than $1.5 million was excised from HIV and AIDS services.

At the federal level, Barrios said reductions may be forthcoming in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a major provider of dollars to state and local health agencies across the nation.