AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #210, November 4, 1994
John S. James
To qualify, you must also have a prescription signed by a physician licensed in California, and not have the drugs covered by your health insurance program. (If your health insurance requires a copayment which creates a financial hardship, the program may help with the copayment.)
For more information about qualifying for the program, California residents can contact their county's health department. Also, a brochure published by California lists the following hotline numbers: Northern California, 800/367- 2432; Southern California, 800-922-2437; Spanish hotline (Southern California only), 800/400-7432. However, the people who answer the phone are sometimes not informed about the program.
The drugs currently covered are: acyclovir, amphotericin B, atovaquone, azithromycin, AZT, clarithromycin, clindamycin, clofazimine, clotrimazole, dapsone, ddC, ddI, ethambutol, fluconazole, flucytosine, foscarnet, ganciclovir, ketoconazole, nystatin, paromomycin, pentamidine (aerosol), pentamidine (intravenous), pyrimethamine, rifabutin, sulfadiazine, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
In addition, the physician advisors to the program have recommended adding the following drugs: d4T, trimethoprim, all chemotherapies, megace, itraconazole, G-CSF (Neupogen), EPO Procrit), alpha interferon, marinol, trimetrexate. Their highest priority recommendation is d4T. Whether these drugs are added will depend on their estimated cost to the program, and whether the money is available.
This year there has been an unexpected decrease in ADAP expenditures, due to a fall-off in demand for AZT. Exact figures are not available, apparently due to lack of statistical staff at the California State Office of AIDS. If the figures are not provided by December 6 and 7, $1,000,000 held in reserve for ADAP is likely to be transferred to home and community-based care for persons with AIDS or HIV. [As of today, the preliminary recommendations for the different programs are: $15,158,881 for health care and support services administered through local HIV CARE consortia -- the 50 percent, required by law; $7,449,105 for ADAP; $1,500,000 for CARE/Health Insurance Premium Payment Program; $2,178,000 for Home and Community-Based Care to expand statewide; $1,515,888 for planning and evaluation, $1,515,888 for administration, and $1,000,000 in reserve for ADAP.]
These programs are Federally funded by Title II of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act of 1990. (Title II pays for state AIDS programs; Title I funds heavily-impacted cities.) This act authorized funding for five years, and will expire after 1995 unless it is reauthorized by Congress. Reauthorization of Ryan White is perhaps the highest Federal priority of AIDS service organizations today. [Note: AUTHORIZATION does not by itself make the money available. Congress must also APPROPRIATE the funding each year, in competition with other priorities; in fact, the Ryan White Care Act has never been fully funded (up to its authorized level). Without reauthorization of Ryan White, Congress could still authorize and appropriate money annually for the same purpose, but there would be an additional fight for AIDS funding every year, and probably less money would be available.]
Title II Funding Distribution -- Public Comments Sought by November 15, and on December 6 and 7
Recommendations for distributing Title II money will be finalized by the HIV Comprehensive Care Working Group, at its meeting at the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort, 21100 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, California, on December 6 and 7. A public comment period is scheduled for 9 a.m. on December 6.
In addition, public comment will be taken on November 15, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., at hearings in six cities: Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, Redding, San Diego, and Ukiah -- or can be mailed to the CARE Section of the Office of AIDS until November ll. These comments, unfortunately, will not be transcribed until after the decisions have been made; instead they may be summarized for the working group. Public comment may be more influential at the meeting of the Working Group itself.
The major decision on the table is how to allocate the money among three programs: ADAP, AIDS Case Management Program (CMP), also referred to as Home and Community-Based Care (HCBC), and CARE/Health Insurance Premium Payment Program (CARE/HIPP). All of these programs serve people with AIDS or HIV, and all three are important. The Working Group needs to hear from those with personal experience with these programs.
For more information about how to have input into the Title II process, including ADAP funding, contact David Lewis, Project Inform, 415/558-8669, ext. 225; he is in the office on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Or contact the California Office of AIDS, 916/327-6804, and ask for time and place of the Title II hearings on November 15, in one of the six cities listed above.
Note: Project Inform, ACT UP, and other activists have spent hundreds of hours improving the California AIDS Drug Assistance Program. They secured funding increases, and demanded the establishment of a medical advisory panel, making possible the addition of 13 of the drugs listed above, as of April 1994. They also decentralized the program, in San Francisco at least, and insisted that its existence be advertised to potential clients.
941104
ATN21008
Copyright © 1994 - AIDS Treatment News. Permission granted for noncommercial reproduction, provided that our address and phone number are included if more than short quotations are used. Subscription lists are kept confidential. AIDS Treatment News, Subscription and Editorial Office: 1233 Locust St., 5th floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 800/TREAT-1-2 toll-free email: aidsnews@critpath.org http://www.aidsnews.org
Subscription Information: Call 800/TREAT-1-2: Businesses, Institutions, Professionals: $270/year. Includes early delivery of an extra copy by email. Nonprofit organizations: $135/year. Includes early delivery of an extra copy by email. Individuals: $120/year, or $70 for six months. Special discount for persons with financial difficulties: $54/year, or $30 for six months. If you cannot afford a subscription, please write or call. Outside North, Central, or South America, add air mail postage: $20/year, $10 for six months. Back issues available. Fax subscriptions, bulk rates, and multiple subscriptions are available; contact our office for details. Please send U.S. funds: personal check or bank draft, international postal money order, or travelers checks. VISA, Mastercard, and purchase orders also accepted. ISSN # 1052-4207
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1994. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 1994. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .