Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The New York Times - Friday, December 1, 1995
Pam Belluck
Low-income people with the AIDS virus will no longer get state money to pay for most painkillers, antibiotics, vitamins and psychotropic drugs, the New York State Department of Health said yesterday.
Starting next year, the state will stop paying for about 70 percent of the drugs used by more than 10,000 uninsured and underinsured people receiving medication and home health care under its H.I.V. Uninsured Care Programs.
Diane Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, said the cutbacks were necessary because the program, financed mostly by so-called Ryan White funds from the Federal Government, did not have enough money to cover the increasing numbers of people with AIDS or the virus that causes the disease.
Ms. Mathis said the state had chosen to stop paying for 129 medications it considered "nonessential drugs that don't pertain specifically to AIDS patients." The state will continue financing drugs that directly treat AIDS, like AZT.
AIDS advocates said the cuts would severely hurt many people with the virus. They said those in the program are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid -- which would pay for the medications -- yet they do not earn enough to buy the drugs.
"This diminishing of the program has struck fear in just about every person with AIDS in New York City," said Dennis deLeon, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS, which represents 35 organizations. "Pain is a very serious problem for people with AIDS. Mental illness is a huge factor. With the antibiotics disappearing, some of the infections might start sooner."
State Senator Catherine M. Abate of Manhattan, who represents Greenwich Village, wrote to the Health Commissioner, Dr. Barbara A. DeBuono, yesterday protesting the cuts and asking the state to find money for the drugs.
But Ms. Mathis held out no hope that the state would be able to find the $8.4 million needed to pay for the drugs. She said the "essential" AIDS drugs took every penny of the $44 million the Federal Government provided the state. Ms. Mathis said the department would try to help AIDS patients get free drugs from pharmaceutical companies or "spend down" their assets so they could qualify for Medicaid.
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