AIDS Project Los Angeles Lauds Signing of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, Formal End to HIV Travel, Immigration Ban


The $2.5 billion Act, now extended for four years, provides vital federal funding for HIV/AIDS in the wake of crippling state budget cuts; formal ban ending hailed as stigma-busting victory

Los Angeles, Calif., October 30, 2009 -- AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today applauded the signing of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, the largest source of dedicated federal funding for HIV/AIDS. Congress passed the bill on October 21, and President Obama signed it today in a ceremony broadcast live via Internet, when he also announced the formal ending of the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban.

"In today’s signing and concurrent announcement, the president has sent a clear message: It is time to end the stigma that surrounds this epidemic and move forward in the business of providing quality care and treatment to all who need it," explained APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson.

Since 1987, people living with HIV and AIDS have been prevented by the ban from entering the U.S. But beginning Monday, a final rule, effective just after the start of 2010, will be published in the Federal Register to eliminate the ban. The new rule will bring U.S. policy in line with international public health and human rights standards on HIV and will make the U.S. a more likely location for future international AIDS-related conferences. The announcement of the formal ban’s lifting coincided with Obama’s signing of the Ryan White Act.

"The Ryan White bills have been the mainstay of care, treatment and services for people living with HIV/AIDS since 1990," said Thompson. "The latest extension of the Ryan White CARE Act ensures that our country’s efforts to provide for this vulnerable population will continue."

The first CARE Act was enacted in 1990 to honor a young Indiana teenager, Ryan White, who was barred from public school when he contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. He died shortly before the legislation passed, but his mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, became a forceful advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS after her son’s death.

All 50 states, U. S. territories and many major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, share in the $2.5 billion in annual funding for Ryan White services.

Ryan White programs provide some 500,000 low-income, uninsured and underinsured people with primary medical care, oral health care, life-saving AIDS drug therapies and support services such as medical transportation, mental heath counseling and case management.

"Ryan White is our national response to AIDS," Thompson said. "It reflects the care and compassion our country is capable of in helping those living with HIV and AIDS who have no other source to turn to."

The current bill extends the Ryan White programs for four years. Nine Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the bill, but it passed the Senate unanimously. The bill was championed by a number of prominent legislators, including Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles. Waxman is now chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight over Ryan White.

The current measure includes funding for Eligible Metropolitan Areas, such as Los Angeles, which receives approximately $34 million annually through the bill. Ryan White funds the life-saving AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides some 35,000 Californians with AIDS drug therapy. It also funds the Minority AIDS Initiative, which funds services and helps build capacity in hard-hit minority communities

The Extension Act authorizes funding increases of five percent annually, and includes important protections for states like California by giving them four additional years to mature their HIV data. California, along with several other states, converted from a code- to a names-based data collection system in recent years. Funding in the Ryan White Act is based on formulas using AIDS and HIV case counts.

APLA and some 300 other community-based organizations and health care providers agreed more than a year ago, in a community consensus document, to advocate for extension of the existing Ryan White Act rather than a full-scale reauthorization. In part, the strategy was designed to speed up the Ryan White legislation while Congress and the administration focused on health care reform.

"Continued Ryan White funding is more important than ever," said Thompson, "especially after Governor Schwarzenegger’s wholesale cuts to the state’s HIV/AIDS programs."

In his recent budget, the governor slashed over $82 million from the state’s general funds contribution of $167 million to AIDS programs. Among the cuts was a complete elimination of general fund support for HIV prevention programs.

"We are fighting an uphill battle to keep ahead of the spread of HIV and AIDS," Thompson said. "The Ryan White extension helps -- but the devastating cuts to the state’s programs will not be offset with commensurate increases in Ryan White funding."

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), 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. Marking 25 years of service in 2008, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.