Federal Update—September 29, 2004

Congress Shortchanges AIDS Programs; Children's Health Insurance Funds Threatened

Congress Short-Changes AIDS Programs for 2005
Despite increasing demand for new domestic HIV/AIDS funding across the board, Congress is holding funding steady at 2004 levels in the final 2005 appropriations bills.

Both the House and Senate appropriations bills flat-fund nearly all of the most important domestic AIDS programs. Congress has not significantly increased funding in several years for most of the Ryan White CARE Act, which currently reaches 533,000 uninsured or underinsured people each year, and enrollment is growing. The only CARE Act program to receive a small increase in funding next year in the Senate bill is the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). The Senate's $35 million increase for ADAP is far short of the $217 million increase required to provide lifesaving medications to all of the people living with HIV/AIDS who need them.

The Senate bill does include a $1.1 billion increase in funding for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) compared with a $727 million in the House-passed measure. In addition, the House approved two troubling amendments as part of its funding measure-one amendment bars future funding for two mental health grants and circumvents the peer-review process, and a second amendment limits the number of federal employees who can attend international conferences to 50. An identical Health and Human Services-imposed limit barred many scientists.

$1.1 Billion in Children's Health Insurance Funds Lost without Congressional Action
The U.S. Congress has two weeks to enact legislation that would prevent $1.1 billion in State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds from returning to the federal Treasury. The proposed legislation would redistribute the funding to states based on need. Many states are struggling to fund their children's health insurance programs, and it is estimated that if the funds are not preserved enrollment in SCHIP will drop by 200,000 in 2007. Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Chafee (R-RI) introduced the bill in the Senate (S 2759) and Representatives John Dingell (D-MI) and Joe Barton (R-TX) introduced the bill in the House (HR 4936).

A report from Families USA estimated that the $1.1 billion could provide a year of health coverage to nearly 750,000 children. The report, 1.1 Billion in Children's Health Insurance Funds to be Returned to the US Treasury, is available online at www.familiesusa.org and includes state-specific data on the number of children who could be affected.

This federal update is provided by the HIV Quality Care E-News, an electronic newsletter of the HIV Medicine Association. To subscribe to the newsletter, email hivma@idsociety.org and indicate in the message that you would like to receive the newsletter and e-news.

The HIV Medicine Association publishes two newsletters; a periodic E-Newsletter to keep our members, community-based organizations, and other interested individuals informed of time-sensitive HIV-related policy issues and clinical resources as well as a bi-monthly newsletter for more in depth coverage of HIV news. The publications are partially support by funding from the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Federal Legislative News Archive

This federal update is provided by the HIV Quality Care E-News, an electronic newsletter of the HIV Medicine Association.

To subscribe to the newsletter, email hivma@idsociety.org and indicate in the message that you would like to receive the newsletter and e-news.