The Pennsylvania Department of Health is launching a new pilot program to provide free hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment to uninsured or underinsured people who also live with HIV, according to a state press release.

 

The $13 million, six-month program will receive funding from the state Department of Aging’s Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly program, and is expected to aid hundreds of low-income people at least 65 years old.

 

The initiative will also be partially funded by Pennsylvania’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which receives money from a federal grant through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part B Program.

 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,419 Pennsylvanians were diagnosed with HIV in 2013, and the state’s hep C rates increased by 100 percent.