The Administration and Congress Must Provide Emergency Funding for AIDS Drug Assistance Program

New York, New York, February 16, 2010 – The Latino Commission on AIDS calls on the Obama Administration and Congress to provide an additional $126 million in FY2010 emergency funding to meet current AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) needs. The $20 million increase for ADAPs included in President Obama’s recently released FY2011 proposed budget was a step in the right direction, but across the country ADAPs are struggling and unable to meet current demand for life saving therapies.

Amidst the worst economic crisis in decades, eleven ADAPs have already closed their doors to new clients at a time when individuals are losing their jobs and their insurance coverage at astronomical rates. Additionally, thirteen other states have instituted or anticipate instituting cost-containment measures such as reducing their eligibility level, cutting drugs from their formulary, instituting annual expenditure caps per client or capping enrollment. As of February 5, 2010, there were 472 individuals on ADAP waiting lists in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.

“Already many of our most vulnerable populations are falling through the cracks,” stated Guillermo Chacon, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS. “It makes economic sense to provide emergency funding to this life saving program rather than dealing with poor health outcomes, additional health care costs and loss of life. It is critical that ADAPs receive immediate emergency funding in order to continue to provide life-saving and life-sustaining medications.”

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ABOUT THE LATINO COMMISSION ON AIDS
The Latino Commission on AIDS (Commission) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1990 dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Latino/Hispanic communities. The Commission is the leading national Latino AIDS organization coordinating National Latino AIDS Awareness Day and other prevention and advocacy programs across the United States and its territories. For more information visit: www.latinoaids.org or www.nlaad.org. UNIDOS PODEMOS / UNITED WE CAN


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