Fitzsimon File

The General Assembly session was back in full swing Tuesday after the Memorial Day weekend. The minimum wage was back on the House floor for final approval (it passed), the Senate was debating the mandatory eye exam for school children and a standing room only crowd listened as a House Judiciary committee slogged through the minutiae of a lobbying reform bill.

But the most compelling event of the day came just after ten o’clock in the press conference room when Dallas Midgette and James Hayes took turns standing behind the podium to encourage lawmakers to increase the funding and eligibility level for the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program and to spend more money on HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

Midgette is a retired lab technician from Wilmington. Hayes is a retired nurse who lives in Boone.  Both men are HIV positive and are alive today because of medication that costs roughly $13,000 a year, medication that private disability coverage and federal health care programs have paid for.

Because of the new Medicare drug benefit and an end to private coverage, both Hayes and Midgette are likely to be on their own soon, trying to figure out how to buy the drugs that cost close to what both men earn each year in disability and retirement income.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program was created by Congress to help people with HIV/AIDS afford lifesaving medication, people just like Hayes and Midgette. Every state sets its own eligibility limits for the program.

The national average is 312 percent of the federal poverty level, or $30,576.  Every state that borders North Carolina provides the medication for people who earn up to 300 percent of the poverty level, or $29,400.

North Carolina denies the medication to anyone who makes more than 125 percent of the poverty level, or $12,250 a year, less than the drugs themselves cost. That means that unless things change, Midgette and Hayes will no longer have access to medicine they need to survive.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of people in the state are already denied the medication because they make more than $12,000.

The Senate budget contains a provision that would raise the eligibility to 250 percent of the poverty level. That’s a good start, but the Senate budget does not include any money to pay for medicine for more people with HIV/AIDS, which means adding to the waiting list that already exists for the medicine.

Governor Mike Easley didn’t include any more money for the program in his budget either, and continues to oppose raising the eligibility level. It’s up to the House now. Rep. Pricey Harrison has introduced legislation that would increase eligibility to 300 percent of poverty and appropriate $5 million to help pay for it. Thirty-six members of the House have signed on to the bill, but House budget writers have not been receptive to the idea in the past.

Midgette and Hayes came to Raleigh as part of HIV/AIDS Advocacy Day that also included calls for more funding for prevention programs and legislation allowing needle exchange programs to reduce infections.  Prevention saves dollars and lives. Providing medication to keep people healthy and working does too.

Evelyn Foust, who runs the state’s HIV/STD Care and Prevention Program, said that “it’s stupid not to invest in this program.” She’s right. It is stupid.  It is also shameful. The state has a $2 billion budget surplus. The money is there.

All we need now is the leadership to move beyond stereotypes and prejudice and save people’s lives. 

 Email This Post  Print This Post

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.