It is almost certain that by the time the 2011 General Assembly session begins in January several hundred people with HIV/AIDS in North Carolina will be denied lifesaving medication and put on a waiting list instead of a drug regimen.
The state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) that provides medication for people infected with HIV is likely to run out of money soon, according to state AIDS Director Jacquelyn Clymore.
It won’t be the first time the state has turned people away. Just two years ago, public health officials were forced to close the program to new applicants after lawmakers reduced its funding.
Last year’s budget included $14 million for ADAP to eliminate the waiting list and offer help to more people who were eligible for the program. But even that money came with restrictions. It can only be used to help people who earn less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level, less than $14,000 a year for a single person.
The medication can cost as much as $30,000 a year. A few years ago lawmakers increased the eligibility for ADAP to 300 percent of the poverty level, which is just over $30,000 or roughly what the drugs cost. That eligibility level is the national average, though still far too low.
Since last session’s emergency funding came with the 125 percent of poverty restriction, there is already a waiting list for people who make more than $14,000, even though they would be eligible for the program under normal circumstances.
Roughly 125 new people are signing up for ADAP every month and there’s no reason to believe that will change any time soon. More than 35,000 people in the North Carolina are living with HIV/AIDS and almost 2,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
Many people whose medication was covered by health insurance at their workplace have lost their jobs in the economic downturn and lost their ability to afford to medication they need.
There are many things policymakers should do to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, like increase funding for testing, education, and prevention, and pass legislation allowing clean needle exchange programs to reduce the number of infections from IV drug use.
But addressing ADAP ought to be pretty simple.
People need the medicine and many of them can’t afford it. Governor Perdue and state lawmakers need to commit now to finding emergency money for ADAP when the General Assembly convenes in January and must adequately fund the program in the two year budget legislators will pass next summer.
And fund it without the 125 percent of poverty restriction. People who make $17,000 a year are not any more likely to be able to pay $30,000 for drugs than someone making $13,000.
This doesn’t need any more studies or long debates. This isn’t about budget cuts or taxes or political philosophy or who controls the General Assembly.
People in North Carolina need medication to stay alive. There is a program to provide the drugs that is well established and well run. It just needs the funding to help the people it is designed to help. What could possibly be the holdup
