Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - November 16, 2003
-- AIDS Healthcare Foundation Had Spearheaded AIDS Community Support to Restore Funding, Urges Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger to Honor Davis' Request
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of AIDS organizations led by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the nation's largest AIDS organization which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the United States, South Africa, Uganda and Honduras, thought they had won a key battle last week to get Governor Davis to reverse a whopping 87% cut to crucial AIDS medical services that is short-sighted and will ultimately drive up the cost of care in California.
On Friday, AIDS advocates had praised outgoing Governor Gray Davis for restoring funding to a crucial California AIDS diagnostic assay testing program earlier last week only to learn over the weekend that in on the last day of his administration, Davis' appointee Diana Bonta, head of California's Department of Health Services (DHS) defied this last directive from the governor on AIDS and refused to implement the restoration of the funds -- a stunning display of arrogance and a slap in the face to Davis.
In August, state bureaucrats at the Department of Health Services (DHS) had announced plans to cut $7 million from the $8 million AIDS Drug Assistance Program's (ADAP) HIV Diagnostic Assay Program -- a move that would have eviscerated medical testing services for people with HIV. The planned cuts came in response to bureaucrats' efforts to reduce California's record budget shortfall. According to an August 20 memo by DHS' Bonta to counties and contractors, DHS planned to leave just $1 million in the state program funding "resistance testing." Such testing allows doctors to avoid prescribing medications that will not work on individual strains of the virus.
In an effort to reverse the potentially devastating cuts, AHF officials had written letters to state officials, mobilized support from AIDS organizations throughout the state, and worked with Daniel Zingale and Joy Higa in the Governor's office to restore the funding. AHF also ran advocacy ads in some of the larger alternative and gay newsmagazines in the state urging readers and concerned Californians to call the Governor's office to protest the almost 90% cut from the HIV diagnostic assay program. On Monday of last week, AHF received word that Governor Davis had directed the DHS to restore the funding. In an 11th hour decision, Davis directed DHS to reverse the cut. Davis' cabinet staff contacted AIDS advocates around the state who had worked to restore the funding.
Activists joy was short-lived, however, when they found that Bonta refused to take action on the Davis request.
"Diana Bonta's unilateral move to cut almost 90% from this crucial medical testing program despite Governor Davis' wishes shows not only incredible arrogance, but it underscores how out of touch many state bureaucrats truly are," said Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
"Cutting medical care to poor people with AIDS is simply not the way to solve California's fiscal woes. Governor Davis showed both wisdom and compassion in his directive to restore funding to this program to provide important blood tests that allow doctors to accurately prescribe complex medication combinations. Without these tests, patient lives are threatened and money is wasted prescribing the wrong combinations of very costly medications -- many of which the state pays for via the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program."
"Last week, we thanked Governor Davis for his commitment to both fiscal responsibility and to ensuring that people with AIDS continue to get the quality medical care they need to live, added AHF's Weinstein. "Today, we express our outrage that a minion like Bonta jeopardizes the lives of some of California's most vulnerable citizens to defy his wishes. It is difficult to imagine a more shortsighted way to try and save money. We strongly urge governor-elect Schwarzenegger to honor Governor Davis' intentions for this program and quickly restore this funding."
SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation
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PR031124
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