(BlackDoctor.org) — Cash-strapped states across the country are scaling back efforts to provide life-saving medicines to HIV patients.
The result: more than 8,300 people – a record number — are on waiting lists in 13 states to get antiretrovirals and other drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS or its side effects, mental health conditions or opportunistic infections. And that number probably sharply understates the need, say advocates, who note that many states have simply eliminated waiting lists or reduced eligibility. ??
“States that have changed their eligibility programs or don’t have a waiting list, or some states have disenrolled their patients, that’s a kind of silent crisis, I think,” said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, an advocacy group on gay issues. His state holds the second highest number of patients on a waiting list—1,520. ????
In recent weeks: ??
–Illinois tightened the eligibility for the state program that helps HIV patients pay for their medications. On July 1, the cutoff for the program will fall from an annual income of 500 percent of the federal poverty level, or $54,450, to $32,670. ??
–Georgia cut $100,000 from its program, which serves 4,300 people. ??
–Florida, which already has the nation’s largest waiting list for HIV prescription drug assistance, held public hearings as officials consider cutting the eligibility threshold in half to $21,780 or less in annual income. ??
–Utah and Alabama are reopening their waiting lists. ??AIDS drug assistance programs, or ADAPs, pay for HIV medications for low-income patients when they cannot afford the drugs and don’t have insurance or have limited coverage that fails to include the cost of the drugs. Nearly 174,000 people are covered by the programs, according to the most recent information from the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). ????
Murray Penner, deputy executive director of NASTAD, said the average annual cost for ADAP drugs is $11,388 per person, but that is significantly less than individuals trying to buy their own drugs would pay. ??The federal government provides the bulk of the ADAP financing through the Ryan White Care Act. This year the budget is $885 million, $25 million more than last year, according to Brandon Macsata, CEO of the ADAP Advocacy Association. Many states supplement the funding. ????
But the number of people seeking help is rising after the recession pushed millions of people out of work and cut their insurance coverage. And the downturn in the economy has also created budget shortfalls for states and limited their ability to help those patients. ????
ADAP is not an entitlement program, so even applicants who are qualified can be turned away or put on waiting lists if funding is not available. ????
