Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; Tuesday, December 30, 1997 17:50:00
The request, in Clinton's 1999 fiscal budget, represents a 35 percent increase for the cash-strapped AIDS drug program, an administration official confirmed Tuesday.
Highly effective new drugs called protease inhibitors are so expensive -- costing up to $15,000 a year per person -- that AIDS Drug Assistance Programs in many states had to cut patients or restrict their access to therapy this year.
"In many states, people didn't know from one day to the next if they'd continue to get lifesaving drugs," said Daniel Zingale of the advocacy group AIDS Action. Another "$100 million will go a long way to keeping away another crisis."
But he urged the White House not to consider the drug spending a substitute for the full health care that AIDS and HIV patients need to go along with their medicine.
Vice President Al Gore had promised to expand Medicaid to cover HIV patients last April, but the administration later called the plan too costly. But Zingale noted that Medicaid would cover the regular blood tests that patients need to ensure they're taking the right AIDS drugs -- while the new money will only buy the medicine.
Clinton's fiscal 1999 budget request would increase spending for the AIDS drug program to $385 million, up from the $285 million this year and $167 million last year.
Clinton did not request an increase in AIDS drug spending in his last budget, prompting criticism from AIDS activists until Congress allotted the additional money.
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