2003 Illinois HIV/AIDS Policy Priorities: Ensure Comprehensive HIV Healthcare in Illinois

State lawmakers should respond to the service needs of the more than 35,000 Illinoisans living with HIV/AIDS by helping to provide medical treatments and other essential services to all who need them. Increasing the availability of HIV medical and social services will help HIV-positive Illinoisans experience improved health outcomes, quality of life, and productivity. Expanded access to treatment and care services would also help prevent costly emergency room visits and hospitalizations and would motivate at-risk individuals to seek voluntary HIV counseling and testing services.

State lawmakers should respond to the medical and service needs of low-income Illinoisans with HIV by pursuing the following legislative and programmatic initiatives:

Increase funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) by $6 million.

• Illinois's ADAP program is currently one of the best in the nation, but that distinction is being threatened by insufficient resources.
• ADAP provides AIDS medications to more than 2,700 low-income, HIV-positive people each month who would otherwise have no access to these life-saving medications. ADAP also reduces healthcare costs by helping people living with HIV/AIDS stay healthier longer.
• The stability of the program is being threatened by both increased enrollment and by the costs of new medications that have recently or will soon become available.

Pass legislation to allow Medicaid recipients to pre-pay their spend down requirements.

• Such a law would allow Medicaid recipients to pay their spend down requirements on a monthly basis in the same way that many Illinoisans pay ongoing health insurance premiums.
• Allowing spend down to be pre-paid will ensure continuous healthcare coverage for Medicaid recipients. Currently, coverage can be interrupted by the need for clients to bring their medical bills to a Public Aid office for review.
• This legislation will help reduce the processing times and costs incurred by the Illinois Department of Public Aid, which must individually review each spend down case every month.

Pass legislation protecting all medications used to treat both HIV infection and all opportunistic infections associated with the disease from prior authorization under the Medicaid program.

• Treatment regimens for people living with HIV are complex and subject to change over time. Physicians must have discretion to prescribe medications that are effective against a patient's particular infection and that will not result in harmful drug interactions.
• Many drugs used to treat HIV are new and do not have generic equivalents. Protecting these drugs from prior approval will ensure that all people living with HIV have access to the most effective treatments.

Fully fund the Family Care program.

• Family Care should be fully funded in order to provide healthcare coverage to more low-income working parents who cannot currently afford medical insurance.
• Full funding for Family Care will create access to health care for at least 1,300 parents living with HIV, increasing their ability to stay healthy and provide stable homes for their children.

Printable Document

Executive Summary

HIV Prevention Priorities

HIV Care Priorities

Prevention Background
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