The new health reform law may have a dark side for the HIV/AIDS community, according to a column by noted LGBT rights advocate David Mixner in The Huffington Post. As a result of the law, cuts to Medicare spending have been placed in the hands of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a group of 15 presidential appointees with no congressional oversight. Medicare provides coverage to nearly 100,000 people with HIV-coverage that could be endangered if IPAB cuts Medicare reimbursements to HIV/AIDS specialists, prompting those specialists to withdraw from Medicare.

Those not on Medicare may also be affected. Pharmaceutical reimbursements could be cut, which would mean less money for vaccine and cure research.

To read Mixner’s Huffington Post column, click here.