June 8, 2007
MORE ADAP ILLS
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Lists are for groceries, not people waiting for HIV meds
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The same day that the House Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee voted to increase funding for abstinence-only education, it also voted for a $41 million increase in FY 2008 funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) — a big jump from past years, but a mere fraction of $233 million advocates say the program needs.
In FY 2006, ADAP received a $2.2 million boost and was flat-funded in FY 2007. Getting a meaningful increase in subcommittee was critical because the full Appropriations Committee is even less likely to come up with the cash. "It's a mixed bag, but mostly I'm disappointed. It's just not enough. I was hoping that with the leadership now in the Congress, we'd do better. We need to commit more resources and committing to people to be more healthy," said Michael Rajner, secretary of Campaign to End AIDS.
ADAP, part of the Ryan White CARE Act, pays for HIV meds for the poorest people living with HIV/AIDS. Thanks to underfunding, up until March 2007 there were 571 people on ADAP waiting lists in Alaska, Montana, Puerto Rico and South Carolina, while other states capped enrollment and lowered income eligibility. Four people in South Carolina died last year while waiting to enroll in ADAP. An increase in the first round of Ryan White Care Act funding recently took 90 people off South Carolina's waitlist, but 470 still remain.
Are South Carolina legislators stepping up?In FY 2007 South Carolina relied almost entirely upon meager federal funding for its ADAP. The state currently only contributes $500,000 to the program, even though it would take $8 million to cover every eligible South Carolinian living with HIV. That gap may close somewhat in the near future because there are two bills in committee in the state Legislature calling for increased ADAP funding. Advocates lit up the phones urging folks to contact their state legislators over Memorial Day weekend, completing a year's worth of furious activism. And it seems pols have started paying attention.
After Karen Bates, C2EA co-director, called her state senator John Land, a Land staffer returned her call within minutes telling her that the senator was concerned about the ADAP issue and watching it closely. "The legislature seems to be starting to understand what's going on here," Bates said. "Through advocacy, we've shown them that providing money for drugs will save the state money on hospitalization in the long-run."
The bills floating around the state legislature still fall short. The House version calls for only $3 million nonrecurring (voted on every year) funds; the Senate bill calls for $3 million recurring, and $1 million nonrecurring. "We were reminding the legislator that $8 million is the true need, and they should combine House and Senate proposals and at minimum appropriate $7 million," Bates said. "Still, $6 million would end the wait list and would be substantially more than the $500,000 they have been appropriating."
Bates expects that a decision will be made by mid-June because the part-time legislature "likes to get out of there by the end of June at the latest." But the grassroots coalition of South Carolina HIV/AIDS activists won't take a holiday. "Over course of this year we managed to do a substantial amount of bridge-building so the advocacy won't end with the end of this budget process," said Bates, adding that there is a coalition-building meeting on July 10 with a hospital association."South Carolina has resolved to continue to advocate funding for AIDS drugs and treatment. We won't be disbanding."