Declaring its horror at the expected loss of life, a health panel on Friday urged Texas to delay any cutback in AIDS drugs as long as possible. The Texas Department of Health board meets Jan. 9 to decide whether to finally adopt a plan to change medication program eligibility requirements that would limit assistance to those who make no more than $12,404 a year -- 140 percent of the federal poverty rate -- cutting off some 4,200 Texans from life-saving HIV treatment.

"We are horrified at the impact that this has on HIV-infected patients in Texas, and we request that the [state health department] board delay it until the last possible moment," said a motion passed by the Texas HIV Advisory Committee after an hour of riveting, often angry, testimony from two dozen Houstonians. Cheers and applause erupted in the overflowing hearing room.

The HIV medication program faces an estimated budget shortfall of $37 million in the next three years, health officials say. They argue that without a cutback, money will run out for drugs for everyone in the program at some point in any given year.

That argument did not fly with witnesses before the advisory group, who would lose the drugs altogether. The men and women represented a range of ages, races and personal backgrounds. "The women are the ones who are going to be hurt most by this, women with children," said Terrence Morgan. He told the committee that he and his wife suffered from HIV for eight years, but are doing well now because of the medications.

Meeting participant David Carlton said those with the authority to cut Texans from the drug program are exercising power over life and death. "If we take this approach, I think a lot of people are going to die," he said. "I don't want to be one of them." Lou Vanech noted that several people have congratulated health officials for their hard work to resolve vexing issues. "With my life in the balance, I don't think you've worked hard enough. I don't think bean-counting bureaucratic solutions are the answer when people's lives are on the line," Vanech said.

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