2006 Policy Priorities:
Bringing an End to AIDS

2006 Federal Policy Priorities

1. Protect the Healthcare Safety Net for People Living with HIV/AIDS: AFC calls on Congress to promptly reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, the nation’s safety-net program for people with HIV/AIDS. Congress must ensure the CARE Act continues to be comprehensive in scope, with each locality determining the appropriate mix of healthcare and essential social services. In addition, the CARE Act and Medicaid must be adequately funded to provide essential services to low-income and uninsured people with HIV/AIDS across the U.S.

The Ryan White CARE Act: Congress should include CARE Act provisions that support a full array of essential services including medical, case management, housing, transportation, legal assistance, substance abuse treatment, and food and nutritional counseling, among others. As HIV data is scheduled to be used in funding allocations beginning next year, reauthorization legislation must ensure that Illinois and other affected states do not lose vital funding during the transition from code-based to name-based HIV reporting. To keep pace with the growth of the epidemic and program cuts, AFC will also ask Congress to increase funding for the Ryan White CARE Act by $641.9 million in FY07, for a total appropriation of $2.69 billion.

Strengthen Medicaid: The recently approved $39 billion cuts over five years to Medicaid and other vital services will likely result in cost containment measures for states already dealing with resource constraints for healthcare. As a result, state Medicaid programs could increase cost sharing, limit services (such as prescription drug coverage) or cut services, drastically affecting access to care for people with HIV/AIDS and putting increased pressure on other vital programs supported by the inadequately funded Ryan White CARE Act.

Congress should work to expand coverage for Medicaid, the largest source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS care in the United States by appropriating additional funds and advancing the passage of the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA). ETHA would allow states to cover non-disabled people with HIV under their Medicaid programs, saving the state money and keeping people healthy and in the workforce.

Enhance Medicare Part D: Federal policymakers should endorse two policy changes regarding Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers nearly 42 million disabled workers and retirees, including an estimated 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. State ADAP expenditures made on behalf of Part D beneficiaries should count toward “true out of pocket” costs, helping beneficiaries obtain comprehensive coverage and allowing states to further stretch their limited ADAP dollars. In addition, AFC will seek to nullify the requirement that ADAP clients who are Medicare eligible must purchase Part D in order to maintain ADAP coverage. This requirement creates another financial burden for people with very limited means and can result in treatment interruption.

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Introduction

State Policy Priorities

Treatment Access

HIV Prevention

HIV and Incarceration

Federal Policy Priorities

Healthcare for PWAs

Science-Based Prevention

Housing

Illinois Statistics

Additional Statistics