Wisconsin: State Initiatives Aim to Help Uninsured Patients With HIV

AIDS advocates in Wisconsin are hoping the state Legislature is ready to pass a set of initiatives to provide low-income, uninsured HIV/AIDS patients with better health care for less money.

The Legislature is drafting a pilot measure that would provide some HIV/AIDS patients with a health insurance plan for medical care instead of the current subsidy for drugs, said Bill Keeton, public affairs manager for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. The move could free an estimated $1.4 million, which would then be used to provide HIV patients with medical, dental, and mental health care, said Cheryl Thiede, ARC's associate director of social services for northern and western Wisconsin.

Under the current program, 250 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients receive drugs they could not otherwise afford, said Keeton. "The cost exceeds health insurance," he said. The Senate has already given initial approval for the pilot, which would transfer at least 100 patients into the subsidized high-risk insurance pool, Keeton said. The plan would improve patient care and represent a cost reduction that would benefit the entire state, he said.

Since 1983, Wisconsin has recorded 9,713 HIV cases, according to the state Department of Health and Family Services.

Back to other news for September 2007