Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - Sunday, August 21, 2005
Justin Jouvenal, Staff Writer
AIDS activists and city officials said the changes in the Ryan White CARE Act - the largest source of public funds for AIDS care in The City - could force rationing of AIDS care and even the elimination of some treatment programs at a time when more people are living with the disease in the three counties than any other in the history of the epidemic.
The Bay Area might lose $7 million of the $28 million in funding it receives for AIDS treatment under the act, while California would be hit even harder. The state is looking at a reduction from $11 million to $33 million over the next five years.
Mark Cloutier, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said the Bush administration wants to change the formula for allocating funds under the act, which would in effect shift some AIDS money away from the nation's urban centers to rural and southern parts of the country where funding to treat the disease has traditionally been more scarce.
"They are essentially rewarding states that haven't done as much about health care, but are punishing places that take a strong role on AIDS," Cloutier said. "We would be reversing much of the progress we've made on HIV in San Francisco."
Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act in 1990, after the death of the bill's namesake from AIDS at the age of 18. It funds medical care, housing, psychological treatment and other services for AIDS patients to the tune of $2.2 billion every year, making it the federal government's largest AIDS program. It is set to expire in September and the Bush administration proposal is a prelude to Congress taking up legislation to renew the bill.
AIDS activists said the potential funding cuts come at a bad time. San Francisco is just starting to get a handle on the AIDS crisis and new infections are increasingly occurring among youth, women and the homeless - populations that particularly rely on government help to treat the disease. Meanwhile, with the advent of new AIDS drugs, more patients are living longer with the disease putting a greater strain on local resources. The number of people living with AIDS has increased 66 percent in San Francisco since 1991, according to testimony by Mayor Gavin Newsom before a Senate committee in June.
E-mail: jjouvenal@examiner.com
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