AIDS Advocates Praise Obama Administration for New Initiative Promoting Access to HIV Care
Washington, DC – As part of its pledge under the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance and an application template today to make it easier for states to apply for Section 1115 Medicaid waivers to cover pre-disabled people living with HIV. Right now (and until 2014 when health care reform expands Medicaid to most people up to 133% of the federal poverty level), most people living with HIV have to wait until they are disabled by AIDS to be eligible for Medicaid. An 1115 waiver gives a state flexibility to immediately cover pre-disabled people living with HIV under its Medicaid program.
“This is a huge victory for the HIV/AIDS community,” said Robert Greenwald, Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the school’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. “Early access to HIV care and treatment will save lives and is very cost-effective. And, as the recent finding from the National Institute of Health trial (HPTN 052) study demonstrated, early diagnosis with access to care and treatment not only improves individual health, it greatly reduces transmission risk.”
One-Year Anniversary of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Reflections and Next Steps
The National Latino AIDS Action Network (NLAAN) invites you to join us for a timely
conversation with Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will share reflections and next steps for the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
Date: Tue, Jul 12, 2011
Time: 03:00 PM EDT
On July 13, 2010, the White House released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). This ambitious plan serves as the nation’s HIV/AIDS roadmap with clear and measurable targets to be achieved by 2015. The development of the NHAS is important because it is an effort to reflect on what is and is not working in order to increase the outcomes that we receive for our public and private investments. The Strategy is intended to refocus our existing efforts and deliver better results to the American people within current funding levels, as well as make the case for new investments.
Illinois Prepares to Align Itself with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
Illinois prepares to align itself with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
By Keith R. Green
Faced with a potential $3.5 million cut to its HIV/AIDS prevention and care budget, government and community stakeholders in Illinois have turned to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) for guidance on making every dollar count.
Call your Representative to say “Thank You!”
In the past couple of weeks, U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) have been circulating a dear-colleague letter in the House, inviting members of Congress to support them in requesting an official, unbiased estimate from the Congressional Budget Office of the needed investments and corresponding savings of a fully implemented National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
Thanks to your efforts, 40 cosigners have joined the letter! You can view the letter here to see if your Representative signed on. If so, call him or her to say "Thank you for signing on to the Quigley/Lee letter requesting a cost/savings estimate for implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy."
To Cut the Nation’s Deficit, Look to the National AIDS Strategy
As Congress debates destructive funding cuts for a vast array of non-military services, the AIDS community needs to speak with one voice in opposition to these ill conceived plans.
On the line are nearly $60 billion for health reform implementation, global AIDS, biomedical research, public health at the CDC, family planning, AmeriCorps, and other essential services the nation's sick and poor. And this doesn't even count deeper service reductions sought by House leaders for the federal fiscal year that begins October 1, 2011.
Motivating House leaders who championed the historic divestment in federal services--passed and sent to the Senate last week--is the burgeoning federal deficit, which is on course to grow even larger as a result of extended tax breaks passed earlier this year.
Congressional reasoning for such massive service reductions doesn't add up.
Consider, for example, the arduous financial decisions low-income Americans must make every day to make ends meet. Deciding to not pay your bills might seem like the simplest course of action, but it's not responsible.
What happens if you stop paying the rent, utilities, and medicine? You'll certainly save money but face agonizing consequences, including discontinued utilities, eviction, and/or severe health complications.
No parent would forgo infant formula to save a few bucks, even in hard times. But these are essentially the very trade-offs some in Congress are all too willing to make.
Responsible budgeting is not so simple. It requires discipline, thoughtful planning,
On February 17, I had the pleasure of speaking at the AIDSWatch congressional briefing session. My prepared remarks and recommendations for congressional members and advocates follows.
As Congress debates destructive funding cuts for a vast array of non-military services, the AIDS community needs to speak with one voice in opposition to these ill conceived plans.
On the line are nearly $60 billion for health reform implementation, global AIDS, biomedical research, public health at the CDC, family planning, AmeriCorps, and other essential services the nation's sick and poor. And this doesn't even count deeper service reductions sought by House leaders for the federal fiscal year that begins October 1, 2011.
Motivating House leaders who championed the historic divestment in federal services--passed and sent to the Senate last week--is the burgeoning federal deficit, which is on course to grow even larger as a result of extended tax breaks passed earlier this year.
Congressional reasoning for such massive service reductions doesn't add up.
Consider, for example, the arduous financial decisions low-income Americans must make every day to make ends meet. Deciding to not pay your bills might seem like the simplest course of action, but it's not responsible.
What happens if you stop paying the rent, utilities, and medicine? You'll certainly save money but face agonizing consequences, including discontinued utilities, eviction, and/or severe health complications.
No parent would forgo infant formula to save a few bucks, even in hard times. But these are essentially the very trade-offs some in Congress are all too willing to make.
Responsible budgeting is not so simple. It requires discipline, thoughtful planning, sacrifice, and some reasonable accommodations. HIV case managers and their clients tackle such challenges all the time in weighing how to assist individuals in getting by on limited incomes. What expenses can be shed or reduced? Cut the cable? Eliminate the magazines? Cut back on soda? If income drops dramatically, maybe downsize to a cheaper apartment or double up. People with disabilities make even harder sacrifices everyday.
Doing more with less is also nothing new for AIDS service providers, advocates, and public health officials. In fact, advocates for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy sought the plan precisely to maximum the use of limited resources and get more bang-for-our-collective-buck from HIV-related investments.
In this regard the National HIV/AIDS Strategy should be viewed and characterized as nothing short of a responsible budget plan. By implementing the Strategy, the U.S. can leverage greater gains from our scarce anti-HIV investments.
The Strategy demands that every investment--public or private--be calibrated to achieve the three essential steps to end the epidemic: curb new HIV infections; increase care access and improve health outcomes for people living with HIV; and reduce the impact of HIV on hard-hit populations.
Consider ...
... Curbing new HIV infections now means our future public and private care systems will spend fewer resources treating a smaller pool of HIV-positive people.
... Assisting more HIV-positive individuals to accept testing and link to ongoing care services means billions in future savings that would otherwise be spent on costly emergency room visits, hospitalizations, nursing homes, and end-of-life care. This doesn't even count savings in non-medical care and the economic boost of a healthier workforce.
... Slowing the spread of HIV among African Americans, Latino/as and gay/bisexual men means giving these communities a fighting chance at enjoying American prosperity and contributing fully to our society.
As we take our messages to Capitol Hill, we must underscore that the National HIV/AIDS Strategy is fundamentally a responsible budget plan. It's not a wish list of all we could do in the fight against HIV/AIDS but a strategic roadmap of all we must do to control this epidemic.
Controlling healthcare costs--a powerful lever of expanded entitlement expenditures--requires a more effective response to HIV/AIDS in America.
The Strategy is designed to bring about a more coordinated, effective and accountable HIV/AIDS response in the U.S. with existing resources and new strategic investments, exactly what we need in these tough economic times.
To truly embrace responsible budgeting, our nation's leaders must focus on achieving results with our limited investments. And ultimately achieving greater results in the fight against HIV/AIDS is what we want from our U.S. government.
Valued programs such as ADAP, housing, food subsidies, biomedical research and others are critically important precisely because of their ability to deliver.
As we go up on Capitol Hill, let's make sure to urge members of Congress to:
1. Invest in full implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, with strategic investments toward each of the plan's three goals
2. Monitor implementation efforts on an ongoing basis, including local and state efforts
3. Be fully informed of the needed costs and potential future savings of the National AIDS Strategy
Toward this last recommendation, advocates should call on members of Congress to join the Quigley/Lee letter to the Congressional Budget Office requesting an official estimate of the cost and saving of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. House members can join the letter until March 2nd. Click here for more information.