Last Friday, AIDS advocates and New York state and city officials gathered at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies to discuss lobbying strategies for the Ryan White AIDS Care Act. The act, which is the main federal funding vehicle for AIDS treatment and services, is up for Congressional reauthorization this fall. Participants worried that a federal Health and Human Services framework proposal would hurt New York by shifting funding away from older urban HIV/AIDS epidemics to newer epidemics in rural and Southern areas.

"It pits us against Southern states; medical providers against social services," said Susan Abramowitz, co-director of New York University's program for women and children affected by AIDS.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) sent letters detailing his concerns with the proposals, including how "core medical services" would be defined, said Jan Carl Park, executive director of the city Bureau of HIV/AIDS and Bloomberg's representative at the meeting.

Others addressed the requirement that 75 percent of the funds go to "core medical services," wondering if mental health, drug treatment and similar services would be defined as outside the "core."

Gay Men's Health Crisis Government Relations Director Daryl Ng spoke about concerns that the proposed guidelines could reduce HIV/AIDS drug access for those state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs that offer expansive formularies. New York's ADAP requires more than 450 drugs be made available to emergency patients, but some state ADAPs require as few as 30.

Under the framework, if AIDS rates fall in one area, funding would follow rises elsewhere, effectively punishing New York City for successful treatment efforts that slow HIV's progression to AIDS, said Housing Works' Robert Cordero.

No one, however, argued against funding AIDS services in other areas of the country.

Back to other news for August 26, 2005

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