Help For Aids Patients On The Line
I thank The Spokesman-Review for following the recent story about the funding crisis with the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
Several people, myself included, have spent countless hours in the past few weeks trying to convince legislators that it’s time for Idaho to step up to the plate and contribute to this crucial program. Your coverage has helped tremendously in making people aware of this sad situation.
ADAP provides life-saving medications for people living with HIV and AIDS who do not have their own health insurance yet make too much to qualify for Medicaid. The typical price tag for the new triple-drug therapy runs $10,000 per year.
ADAP is funded primarily with federal money from the Ryan White CARE Act. Every state gets federal money and all but 13 states also contribute state funds. This year for the first time, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, STD-AIDS Program requested state assistance. Gov. Phil Batt did not recommend funding for this program in his proposed budget. Hence, the scramble to educate lawmakers - specifically, those on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee - about the urgent need for this money.
In 1997, ADAP helped 84 people obtain these incredible new drug therapies that are literally saving lives. Even so, only 15 received all three drugs from ADAP. The others had to apply to drug companies’ patient assistance programs as a last resort. There is no guarantee they will be approved for free drugs.
I have two new female clients this week who will be applying for assistance from ADAP. But, because there is a waiting list, they will not receive a protease inhibitor, which is the most powerful drug in the combination.
As a client advocate, this is extremely frustrating to me. And it’s scary, to say the least, for them. How can I tell them they may not have access to medications that will keep them alive?
Can it really be that the state of Idaho doesn’t see the need to contribute money to this program? Is it the intention of our elected officials to stand by and wait until people get so sick that they end up costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid and unpaid hospital and home health care bills?
We are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the budget deliberation meeting scheduled for Monday. I hope JFAC makes the sane and compassionate decision to allocate funds to ADAP. It is time for Idaho to acknowledge and assist this forgotten population.
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