Feds to Release 1.89 Billion for ADAP, HIV Care

The federal government Monday announced more than $1.89 billion in funding to states to fight the HIV epidemic with access to care and with more cash for the failing AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

According to an HHS press release, $813 million of that money will go directly to the ADAP programming. An additional $8,386,340 will be issued as a supplement to 36 states and territories currently facing a litany of unmet needs and access issues. The additional money is designed to help those programs reduce or eliminate their waiting lists. They also released an additional $40 million to assist states and territories currently refusing coverage for people in need to reduce the number of people waiting.

ADAP provides access to the costly anti-retroviral medications that have turned HIV into a more manageable disease since its appearance 30 years ago. The drugs can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year in the U.S. The program also assists in paying for drugs to treat opportunistic infections that HIV positive persons can suffer as a result of diminished immune functions.

The ADAP Advocacy Association shows that as of Sept. 22, 10 states had waiting lists totaling nearly 9,000 people awaiting access to the life saving medications:

ADAPs with Waiting Lists
(8,785 individuals in 10 states*, as of September 22, 2011)

Florida: 4,098 people
Georgia: 1,732 people
Idaho: 37 people
Louisana: 1,112 people
Montana: 28 people
North Carolina: 354 people
Ohio: 9 people
South Carolina: 367 people
Utah: 59 people
Virginia: 989 people

In addition to funding ADAP programming, the feds also announced millions in funding for direct medical care as well as programming to assist minorities — who are particularly hard hit by the epidemic — in accessing medical care for the infection.

Kudos to all the activists and HIV care advocates who worked hard for this- and for those of you who signed our petition….

Another Reason To Start HIV Meds Early

Sep22 by D Gregory Smith

From Science Daily:

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and GHESKIO (Groupe Haitien d’Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes) have shown that early treatment of HIV not only saves lives but is also cost-effective.

And the recommended blood levels of T-cells as markers to start treatment is creeping up:

Before 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended waiting to initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV until a patient’s CD4+ T cells fall below 200 cells per cubic millimeter. But in that year, a randomized clinical trial completed by Weill Cornell researchers at the GHESKIO clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, demonstrated that early ART decreased mortality by 75 percent in HIV-infected adults with a CD4 cell count between 200 and 350 cells/mm3. As a result, the WHO now recommends that ART is started in HIV-infected people when their CD4 cell count falls below 350 cells/mm3.

Full story here.

TAKE ACTION!

Sep19 by D Gregory Smith

I spent the weekend with 30 HIV+ Gay men in the mountains outside of Helena, Montana. They ranged in age from their early twenties to their mid sixties. It was like every other gathering of gay men in many respects- with one exception: we talked a lot about our health- and our medications.

Mostly about the reliability of receiving these life-saving meds.

It creates a lot of stress for us. The meds are expensive, they have side-effects, they are sometimes mailed from pharmacies with in a day or two of our running out. It often requires us to hound our caseworkers to get what we need- every month, in some cases.

As in most cases with issues of efficiency, increased funding will help. But Congress always needs to be hounded in order to give the HIV+ the kind of funding we actually need. The kind of funding that other medically disabled get almost automatically.

We don’t even have enough money to take care of those waiting to be admitted to government programs that people already qualify for.

Thus The Waiting List for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. It needs to end- and you can help. Click the link below the map.

SIGN THE PETITION TO END ADAP WAITING LISTS HERE

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ADAP Watch, 9.12.11

Sep12 by D Gregory Smith

From NAPWA’s Positive Voice Newsletter:

We’re beginning to think we’re trapped in the movie Groundhog Day.

Week after week, the waiting list numbers hover just over 9,000. Week after week, Congress doesn’t – and can’t – act. Week after week, Florida alone accounts for nearly half the waiting list numbers, and Florida doesn’t act.

Assuming an annual medications cost of $15,000 per ADAP recipient per year, $135 million a year in new ADAP funds would be enough to make this national disgrace go away. That’s less than four one-thousandths of a percent of the federal budget. If the will were there, the money could be found.

$60 million would do the job in Florida – not very much, even in Florida’s $70 billion state budget. But Florida doesn’t even seem to be spending the money already available effectively. Just before Labor Day, the Orlando Sentinel reported health officials for Orlando County and three neighboring central Florida counties had underspent their Ryan White funds by a half-million dollars – about six percent of the total $9 million, which suggests a certain lack of commitment to serving the people Ryan White funds are meant to help. And it’s a pity the unused funds couldn’t have been put to other uses, instead of just being help for possible use next year. They could have paid for drugs for more than thirty central Floridians currently on the ADAP waiting list.

Here are the latest waiting list numbers from our friends at NASTAD:

Sign the petition to end the waiting list here.

ADAP Crisis Makes Local News

Sep9 by D Gregory Smith

An excellent story by Jessica Mayrer of the Missoula Independent highlights the National HIV Drug Crisis- and Montana’s link:

Montanans who can’t afford HIV drugs have recourse. The federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program provides medicine at no cost. What worries Smith and his clients is the fact that the program isn’t meeting demand. In January, 4,200 people nationally were waiting for entry into ADAP. At the end of August, that number grew to 9,200. ADAP now provides drugs to 107 of Montana’s 532 known HIV-positive patients, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. In Montana, 28 people now await ADAP assistance. That’s up from 21 last year.

Full story here.

And if you haven’t signed the petition to Denny Rehberg, go here.

Seven Ways To Save On HIV Meds

Aug20 by D Gregory Smith

Mark S King over at My Fabulous Disease has some excellent ways to save on medication costs for HIV+ persons. Excerpt:

With all the doctor appointments and wellness activities we engage in, living with HIV/AIDS can be a full-time job. And the truth is, it doesn’t pay very well. We’ve all been feeling the pinch of tough economic times. So I hope you’ll find some savings in this new video blog, “7 Ways to Save Money on Meds.”

Jason King, a pharmacy specialist and patient advocate at AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Ft Lauderdale, was kind enough to give me a tour of their “Out of the Closet” thrift store and then sit down to discuss ways to save money that your pharmacist might not be telling you.

Really Helpful Stuff. Read the rest.

ADAP Waiting List Passes 9,000

Aug13 by D Gregory Smith

As of August 4th – and for the first time ever – the number of people lingering on AIDS Drug Assistance Program wait lists passed 9,000. A total of 9,039 people in 13 states are now unable to access their medications via the programs, which provide drugs to under and un-insured individuals who are not eligible for other programs such as Medicaid. What’s more, Alabama, which already had a wait list, has reduced its program’s formulary, while Illinois, which already had expenditure caps, has lowered its program’s financial eligibility to 300% the Federal Poverty Level. This brings the total number of states that have enacted “cost-containment” measures to eighteen, plus Puerto Rico.

For more information on the nation’s ADAP crisis, visit www.ADAPaction.org.

Survey Time!

Jul23 by D Gregory Smith

I am always interested in helping researchers understand HIV+ persons, our treatment and the ways we live with our disease. So when I run across them, I like to bring them to your attention.

You are invited to participate in a research project entitled: “Impact of physician communication on HIV/AIDS patients.”
You will be asked about your experiences communicating with your doctor.
This questionnaire will also ask you about your demographic information as well as your HIV/AIDS treatment.

Take the survey here.