Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - May 18, 2001
David Fraser
Project Inform and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation warned this week that Governor Gray Davis's failure to include new state money for HIV/AIDS could easily jeopardize the low-income people who rely on ADAP-provided drugs to keep them alive.
Unless there's a change, the governor's May revision of the budget means there is going to be a $15 million shortfall in the state's portion of ADAP funding. Davis's Department of Finance estimates that ADAP will need the money for fiscal year 2001-2002 to meet rising enrollment, use of drugs, and pharmaceutical prices, the foundation said.
Davis's preliminary budget in January projected the total program cost at $149 million, with about $44.5 million coming from Sacramento. Federal funding will have a minor increase.
The two advocacy groups urged people concerned to write the governor.
"This could mean cutting out entire classes of drugs that supplement HIV drugs," warned Anne Donnelly, Project Inform's public policy director.
"These drugs are critical for people who are dependent on ADAP," Donnelly told the Bay Area Reporter. "Without the $15 million, it's going to leave them with no access to life-prolonging medicines. It's potentially devastating to their lives."
About 1,000 persons apply for the ADAP program each month.
"For Californians with HIV," said Dana Van Gorder, the SFAF director of state and local affairs, "an ADAP shortfall presents a dire consequence.
Because the state cannot limit enrollment in the program, the only option available to control costs is to remove drugs from the list of treatment available to ADAP clients."
Van Gorder called the decision "simply unacceptable," adding that "June 5 marks the 20th year of this tragic epidemic. We call on Governor Davis to mark that occasion by recommitting the state to a compassionate response to the epidemic through full funding" for ADAP.
Letters can be sent to: Office of Governor Gray Davis, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814. Phone: (916) 445-2841; fax: (916) 445-4633; e-mail: graydavis@governor.ca.gov.
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