PRNewswire - November 2, 2006

-- US' Largest AIDS Group Decries Congressional Impasse That Threatens Passage of Bill That Would Prioritize Medical Services and Strengthen Prevention and Testing Programs

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of a new study estimating a $12 billion annual cost to treat the 40,000 new HIV cases per year in the U.S, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care serving thousands of patients at 14 healthcare centers in California and Florida, today called on Congress to quickly re-authorize and appropriate an additional $100 million for the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency Act (RWCA), the federal law that provides the principal source of funding for AIDS care and services nationwide.

Despite the fact that the CARE Act had cleared the House by a 3 to 1 margin in September, re-authorization of the $2 billion CARE Act stalled in the Senate and was not acted upon before the Congress recessed in part due to some legislators' concerns over the redistribution of funds nationwide. The additional $100 million would help resolve concerns of some legislators over the potential loss of funding in urban areas so that they could then act to reauthorize the bill, which, for the first time since its introduction in 1990, would have prioritized funding for 'core medical services,' and would have also strengthened prevention and testing programs.

"To stave off a repeat of the September legislative impasse on the CARE Act, we urge Congress to appropriate an additional $100 million for the CARE Act and immediately reauthorize the bill when it reconvenes next week," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "This latest study on the staggering cost of treating the 40,000 estimated new infections per year in the U.S. underscores the urgency of trying to break the chain of new infections through a continuum of aggressive prevention, testing and treatment. By prioritizing medical care and strengthening prevention and testing programs, this bill can go a long way to help prevent new infections and reduce transmission of infections by identifying and bringing more people into care."

The latest study, "The Lifetime Cost of Current Human Immunodeficiency Virus Care in the United States," to be published in the November issue of 'Medical Care,' estimates the lifetime medical cost per patient as $618,000. An estimated 40,000 new HIV infections occur in the U.S. each year.

"If every infection that is prevented saves more than $600,000 over a lifetime in treatment costs, then an additional $100 million now for a program that both provides care and can reduce new infections, is well worth the investment," added AHF's Weinstein.

According to a recent Reuters article (New U.S. HIV Cases to Cost $12 Bln a Year: Study, 11/1): "The study is intended to provide guidance for policy makers and ensure appropriate funds are allocated for HIV care and prevention, according to its authors. 'If they rely on outdated cost information, treatment programs will be underfunded and the economic value of HIV prevention will be understated,' lead author Dr. Bruce Schackman, the head of the health policy at Weill Medical College of Cornell University's department of public health, said ... Since combination therapy became available to U.S. HIV patients in 1996, life expectancies have risen, but so have medical bills. Medications now make up more than 70 percent of the expense of HIV treatment, according to the study."

SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation

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