Congress Passes Compromise Version of the Ryan White CARE Act

By Jeff Brock
Digital Content Manager

Congress passed a compromise version of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act on December 9, extending the crucial legislation for three more years and eliminating proposals that would have slashed funding in San Francisco and across California.

"At the end of the day, everyone came away with something but a bit dissatisfied--the sign of a tough but fair negotiation, said Ernest Hopkins, Federal Policy Director for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "The bill recognizes that infection rates are climbing in rural parts of the country but also takes into account the entrenched epidemics in urban America still demand care and treatment resources. The original bill was like asking people with HIV who rely on CARE Act services to jump off a cliff with no parachute."

The compromise reauthorization, which President Bush signed on Dec. 19, eliminates all of the provisions opposed by SFAF, including a potential $10 million annual cut for San Francisco and a $50 million cut for California. The bill also protects funding for cities and states that use a code-based, rather than name-based, system of reporting HIV cases to the federal government.

According to Hopkins, this version is an improvement on its predecessor, "a flawed piece of legislation that enacted dramatic policy and funding changes in the final two years of the five-year authorization -- with no accurate understanding of their effect on already vulnerable community and state health care infrastructures." The bill would have threatened access to life-saving drugs and medical care for thousands of CARE Act clients. The legislation also would have led to significant undercounting of HIV cases in the city and state.

The CARE act was first enacted by Congress in 1990, reauthorized in 1996 and 2000, and expired in September 2005. It provides more than $2.1 billion annually for primary medical care, pharmaceutical treatments, and support services for more than 500,000 Americans living with HIV/AIDS.

Continuing its advocacy efforts against disparities in health care for people living with HIV/AIDS around the country and within various demographic groups, SFAF will take part in Senate oversight hearings in January, 2007.