1.10.06 - AIDS Advocates Praise Governor Schwarzenegger for Fully Funding AIDS Drug Program

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation today strongly praised Governor Schwarzenegger for including $28.5 million in additional funding for the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) in his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2006-07. The Foundation also said that it is joining other advocates in asking the Governor and Legislature to fund modest increases to HIV prevention and substance use programs, as well to assist low-income people with HIV with out-of-pocket expenses related to the new Medicare prescription drug program known as Part D.

"Governor Schwarzenegger has once again shown his deep understanding of the importance of assuring access to HIV medications for low-income Californians," said Dana Van Gorder, Director of State and Local Affairs for the Foundation. "The ability of low-income people living with HIV and AIDS to access this program is a matter of life and death, and the Governor's budget proposal maintains California as one of the most compassionate and effective of states in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic."

ADAP provides a range of HIV-medications to approximately 31,600 low-income Californians, most of whom are severely economically disadvantaged. Without ADAP, HIV medications--which can cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per year--would be out of reach for hundreds of low income Californians. For 2006-07, ADAP requires an additional $38 million in funding to pay for the rising number of individuals eligible for its services, the use of additional drugs by current enrollees, and increased drug prices. Schwarzenegger provided $16.5 million in increased state general fund support for the program, and credited the program for an estimated $11.5 million in additional rebate revenues that will be paid by pharmaceutical companies on ADAP purchases. An additional $10 million in savings that ADAP will experience due to the implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, Part D, will also be credited to the program. The total cost of California's ADAP program in 2006-07 will be $296.4 million, of which $107.6 million will come from state funds.

"In addition to being medically necessary, the Governor's support for ADAP is pragmatic," explains Van Gorder. "Money spent on medications to keep people living with HIV and AIDS healthy ultimately saves the state enormous sums in acute health care costs and helps to prevent new cases of HIV infection."

Van Gorder said that advocates are calling on the Governor and Legislature to extend a one time increase of $5.6 million to HIV prevention programs approved in the 2005-06 and allocate $5 million to strengthen programs to treat and prevent the use of methamphetamine, which has been correlated with new cases of HIV infection among gay men. Additionally, advocates are requesting that the state allocate $1 million to pay insurance premiums for low-income Californians who might not otherwise be able to afford to take medications as a result of the new Medicare Part D program. "In recent years, advocates have been modest in requesting increases to the state's HIV/AIDS budget due to the state's ongoing budget deficits," said Van Gorder. "However, consistent with the Governor's goal of looking forward to address the state's future needs, we must now call on the state to address a set of issues to keep California ahead of its growing HIV/AIDS epidemic."