Tampa,
FL
– In an unprecedented move in the treatment
of HIV/AIDS in the United States, the State of Florida is finalizing a
plan to move 6,000 low-income people from its AIDS Drug Assistance
Program (ADAP). The Florida ADAP program currently serves about 10,000
people across the state but officials say they only have enough money
left to support roughly 3,500 patients until April 1, 2011 when new
federal dollars are expected.
“This is
devastating,” stated Michael Ruppal, Executive Director of The AIDS
Institute. “Efforts to fill the financial gap from additional state or
federal sources have yielded nothing. We are in a perfect storm with
the loss of jobs and health insurance, increased infections and
increased diagnoses through expanded testing programs, while at the same
time State and Federal governments are cutting their budgets.” Ruppal
continued, “We are risking peoples’ lives with the potential of
treatment interruptions that dramatically increase their chances of
becoming resistant to the same drugs that are currently saving their
lives.”
ADAP’s
provide HIV-related medications to uninsured and under-insured people
living with HIV/AIDS or about one-quarter of the people with HIV/AIDS
estimated to be receiving care in the U.S. ADAP is part of the Ryan
White HIV/AIDS program, which is funded by both federal and state
resources. Receiving medications daily is critical to effective AIDS
treatment.
The ADAP crisis is not unique to Florida.
Ten states have instituted waiting lists to receive medications from the
program. Of the 5,779 people on waiting lists, Florida’s is the largest
with 3,008. Wait lists are just one measure of how a state ADAP is
doing. States are also reducing their eligibility, and in the process,
actually disenrolling patients from the program, and reducing their
formularies.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida stated
in recent letters to President Obama and Florida Governor Rick Scott,
“These events make it clear that the current federal funding level for
the ADAP program is not enough to ensure the program’s viability during
this period of economic turmoil.” He went on to say, “I will also
encourage state officials to work with your administration to ensure
that Florida’s ADAP program is administered properly and that all money
is spent as efficiently as possible.” Nelson also requested that Scott
“find additional state resources to keep the program fully operating.”
Florida officials, in an attempt to prevent treatment interruptions to
patients, are finalizing a
plan for the 6,000 patients to receive their
medications from a pharmaceutical sponsored charity for the next 6-8
weeks. Ruppal stated, “This charity program was established to provide a
temporary safety net for those patients who are on wait lists. It is
supported by donated medications by many pharmaceutical companies but
was never intended to handle the volume and scale of this crisis. We
need long lasting solutions.”
In the last Congress, funding proposals by
the House of Representatives called for an increase in ADAP of $60
million for fiscal year 2011, while the Senate proposed an increase of
$65 million. Unfortunately, Congress did not pass a full year spending
bill and the government is operating on a continuing resolution at
current funding levels.
“There are rallying cries from many members
of the new Congress to significantly cut spending,” stated Carl Schmid,
Deputy Executive Director of The AIDS Institute. “The ADAP program
cannot afford to be cut; too many lives are at stake.”
A twenty percent cut to the program would
translate into removing over 19,100 people across the country from the
program. Even with level funding, the situation would continue to be
grave since ADAP utilization continues to skyrocket.
“We need states such as Florida and the U.S.
Congress to protect ADAP from any cuts. Additionally we need Congress
to increase funding by at least the $65 million that was proposed by the
Senate for FY11. We also need the Obama Administration to forcefully
insist on these increases in addition to proposing adequate increases in
FY12 and relay the urgency of this request to the Congress as they
deliberate next year’s spending bill,” stated Schmid.
We are living in challenging times and
record budget deficits and there is a call for spending freezes and
cuts. In the process, programs must be prioritized and protected from
cuts. For the sake of the over 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS
in our own country, ADAP must be one of those programs
