Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Tuesday December 30, 1997 - 9:16 AM EST
White House officials said the increase is aims primarily to help AIDS patients afford newly developed drugs that are medically promising but can cost $12,000 to $15,000 per year per person.
White House deputy press secretary Joe Lockhart said the president's request for the coming fiscal year will include at least $385 million to help patients afford new medications known as protease inhibitors.
The figure represents a 35 percent increase from the $285 million appropriated in the current fiscal year, and $167 million last year.
The plan follows suggestions last April by Vice President Al Gore that Clinton would try to expand Medicaid to cover people infected with the AIDS-causing HIV virus, and the administration's subsequent decision that the idea _ costing an estimated $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion over five years _ would be too expensive.
Current federal rules make patients eligible for Medicaid coverage if they develop AIDS and become disabled. The new drugs, however, often prevent disability, meaning patients often cannot obtain them until they become severely ill.
AIDS activists welcomed the administration's proposed budget increase, but insisted that only the change in Medicaid eligibility would solve the cost problem facing AIDS patients.
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