For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke - 213.201.1525
EMAIL:jburke@apla.org
AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES REACTS TO SCHWARZENEGGER BUDGET
January 9, 2004, Los Angeles, CA -- AIDS Project Los Angeles today called Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cap enrollment in California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program unacceptable, and urged the governor to work with community representatives to craft an alternate solution.
APLA also lamented other cuts proposed by the governor – a two percent cut in overall HIV/AIDS funding; ten percent cuts in Medi-Cal provider rates – at a time when more people than ever are living with HIV/AIDS, and infection rates among some California populations are on the rise.
“The state’s fiscal crisis may require sacrifices all around, but limiting access to ADAP could cost people with HIV/AIDS their health, and ultimately their lives,” said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. “The HIV/AIDS community is ready to make sacrifices that will contribute to the overall health of California. But decisions about ADAP will need a more deliberative process than we have seen to date.
“The governor wisely consulted with the education community before carving $2 billion in cuts out of their budget,” Thompson said. “It’s simply not cost effective in the short or long term to cap enrollment in this program. We look forward to working together with the governor in the same spirit of cooperation to find more acceptable solutions to funding ADAP.”
ADAP is a nationwide program that provides HIV/AIDS drug therapies to some 26,000 low income Californians with little or no health insurance. Gov. Schwarzenegger proposes capping enrollment in the program at 23,900.
Because of under funding at the federal level and widespread state budget problems, caps and wait lists have been imposed on ADAPs in several states. Some 7 people have reportedly died waiting for access to their state’s program.
“People with life threatening diseases cannot wait for services,” Thompson said. “If people with HIV/AIDS can’t get the treatments they need to stay healthy, they will get sicker and require more costly treatments down the line.”
AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest AIDS service organizations, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV or AIDS in Los Angeles County each year. Services include prevention education, food banks and nutrition education, professional dental care, housing assistance, transportation, mental health counseling, case management and home health care. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level. For more information, please visit www.apla.org.
###
