greg57. I appreciate your response about my early years in foster care system, boarding school, etc. I rec'd a full scholarship which gained me a degree in Music. On college graduation, the Vietnam war was raging. I promised myself I would not go there. I interviewed all the military organizations and joined the Army. I served as a Protocol Specialist to the base commander in Vicenza, Italy. After serving in the military, I got a position as a Public Health Advisor at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In 1984, I became HIV+ which means during my entire CDC career I was HIV+ (to date, 42 years total). My life is good overall and am grateful for the life I have now.

I made the small choice in believing my doctor needed to change my HAART as my older regimen was causing “cardiovascular issues in some patients”. I did my research and found out the CDC research negated this “fact” in 2016.

My out of pocket costs skyrocketed in 2025 to $2000, from $250 in 2024, with the change to Dovato. I’m on Medicare, and thanks to J Biden and Co, the bill passed, capping the plan D (drug) deductible to $2000.

In 2026 I recently applied for ADAP and am now paying $0 out of pocket for Dovato.

Everyone taking ART for HIV should seriously apply for ADAP through a worker in your state.

In CA, if you’re on Medicaid, one of the ADAP eligibility is having a household income of 138% of the poverty level. If you are on other insurance the household income requirement is 600% of the poverty level.

Thank you for sharing this humble story. Hopefully you’re doing better having made that difficult decision. I was Catholic for most of my life, now I consider myself agnostic. Most of the time I’m feeling like we all need to just move on, but don’t forget what we have learned from our past.

I was raised in the foster care system since I was 2 years old. Been in out of several foster homes and orphanages till age 15. My last foster parents were very religious (Catholics) and had priests over for dinner at least once a week and went to mass twice a week. I shared with the foster parents I wanted to be a priest! They drove me to a Benedictine monastery and met with the abbot (sp.) who entered me into the high school seminary which was located in a separate building from the main building that housed >300 boys (boarding high school). I quit the seminary as a freshman in college. This small but significant decision changed my life.