February 8, 2008
PUBLIC HEALTH RISK
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García didn't fight for HIV/AIDS care in Connecticut |
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt issued a statement praising the nomination of Dr. Joxel García for Assistant Secretary of Health as "an excellent choice to guide this Department on matters involving public health." HIV/AIDS advocates, who know García from his tenure as Connecticut's Commissioner of Public Health, heartily disagree. They say Garcia was uninformed about AIDS issues and that his foot-dragging on instituting a system for tracking HIV cases cost the state $3.3 million in federal Ryan White CARE Act dollars.
"HIV/AIDS was just not on his priority list," said Shawn M. Lang, director of public policy at the Connecticut AIDS Coalition. "Connecticut ranks third in proportional cases among Latinos. Here we had a high-powered Latino, but if we didn't push it, nothing would happen."
During García's term, after a heated battle over whether Connecticut should use names-based reporting or "unique identifiers" to track the number of people with HIV/AIDS in the state, García and his department decided on an ineffective hybrid of the two. The lack of a coherent system caused delays in gathering the data. When Ryan White reauthorization rolled around, Connecticut was penalized for not having an HIV reporting system that was "sufficiently accurate and reliable," causing the state to lose $3.3 million in federal funds. In 2003, a names-based reporting system was implemented.
The tracking debacle wasn't Garcia's only AIDS failure. During his times as commissioner from 1999 to 2003, Garcia left the position of Director of AIDS unfilled for a year and a half. And García didn't do much to fill that void. "He didn't really know the details at the level he needed to know. Ironically, I had to explain to him the amount of federal money coming into the state," said Leif Mitchell, who was co-chair of the Connecticut HIV Prevention planning group during García's tenure.
Advocates familiar with Garcia's neglect of Connecticut weren't surprised to see him land a Washington job, something they believe he had his eye on for awhile. "On the one hand, we're relieved he's not in Connecticut, but on the other hand, I don't think this would be good for country," Mitchell said.