AIDS Foundation of Chicago President and CEO David Ernesto Munar testified on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 before the Illinois House Human Services Appropriations Committee on the state’s proposed Medicaid 1115 waiver. The proposal – outlined in this concept paper released in November 2013 
– would allow the state to obtain federal Medicaid matching funds for a wider range of health care activities than allowed under the existing program.
Munar said in his testimony that to turn the tide on the AIDS epidemic, the state must harness the existing HIV service infrastructure built over the last three decades with an over $1 billion investment in state and federal funds. By 2017, thanks to the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, over half the people with HIV in Illinois will be covered by Medicaid, making it the largest single payer of HIV care in the state.
