For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke - 213.201.1525
EMAIL:jburke@apla.org
REPORT ON STATE AIDS DRUG PROGRAMS SHOWS MIXED RESULTS
ADAP Waiting Lists Remain Key Issue for Ryan White Reauthorization
Los Angeles, CA, December 15, 2004 – AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today expressed concern over a report from the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) that suggests that the Bush Administration’s decision to provide one-time funding of $20 million for people on AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists has failed to quell the ADAP crisis.
In a speech at a Philadelphia church on June 23, President Bush announced $20 million in drug therapies outside of ADAP programs for individuals on 10 state waiting lists. Six months later, NASTAD’s report, “The ADAP Watch,” indicates that 591 of the 1,349 individuals eligible for the $20 Million ADAP Initiative have begun to receive HIV/AIDS drugs. Through the Initiative, drugs are sent directly to the client or the client’s physician.
The report warns that a variety of factors, including changes in demand and in state Medicaid programs, keep state ADAPs in constant flux. Among its findings: four ineligible states have since reported a total of 55 people on ADAP waiting lists; 13 states, of which 11 are ineligible, report having instituted other cost-containment strategies while six other ineligible states anticipate such measures soon; and unused slots from the 10 eligible states cannot be transferred to other states.
“It is clear that in a short period of time, a large number of people have accessed life-saving medications through the president’s Initiative,” said Craig E. Thompson, APLA executive director. “What is less clear is how these people will get their drugs next year, or how we will account for the people who weren’t eligible on June 23, but need drugs now. This report proves that circumventing the current system will not work. We need a broad, structural solution to ADAP, not a quick fix.”
ADAPs provide HIV/AIDS drug therapies to low income, uninsured and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS in all 50 states and in eight territories. As of November 2004, nine states have ADAP waiting lists with a total of 813 individuals awaiting medications, 758 of whom are eligible under the Initiative.
In his revised 2004-2005 budget, Gov. Schwarzenegger increased funding for California’s ADAP program by 13 percent to $234 million. AIDS advocates had staged a rally on the steps of the Sacramento Capitol in March to protest proposed caps to enrollment in the program. State ADAPs and the Ryan White CARE Act are payers of last resort for people living with HIV/AIDS.
AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Founded by four friends in 1982, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.
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