Health News
2005-09-30
Former surgeon
general calls for stronger, expanded Ryan White Act
Former U.S.
surgeon general David Satcher, in an op-ed piece appearing
the Washington, D.C., publication The H
Former U.S.
surgeon general David Satcher, in an op-ed piece appearing
the Washington, D.C., publication The Hill, is
calling on Congress to reauthorize a stronger and expanded
version of the Ryan White CARE Act, which expires on
September 30. The law provides federal funds for HIV
prevention, treatment, and support programs throughout
the country. Although the act expires on Friday, lawmakers
aren’t expected to address its renewal for several
months. Instead, they’re expected to pass an
emergency funding measure that will fund the program
at its current level until the reauthorization process is
completed.
Satcher’s
op-ed, titled “AIDS Is Still a Threat Here,”
says that it’s critical that Congress not only
reauthorizes the act but also expands and strengthens
it so that all HIV-positive Americans will be guaranteed
access to HIV treatment and care, particularly low-income
HIV patients.
“Just as
the death of Ryan White in 1990 led the nation to reconsider
its view of HIV/AIDS, today’s leaders must
reassess the legislation that bears Ryan’s name
to make sure it addresses the changes that have taken
place in both the nature and the spread of this
epidemic,” Satcher writes. “States and
cities are already straining under a growing caseload.
Because of funding restraints, nine states have instituted
waiting lists for people in need of drugs. In states such as
Mississippi and Tennessee, and others around the
country, people with AIDS are losing their drug
coverage completely due to state Medicaid cutbacks.”
He writes that
nearly half of the estimated 1.1 million HIV-positive
Americans are poor, members of a minority community, or face
access barriers to health care, leaving them with
inadequate HIV treatment and medical care.
“Present-day health care systems cannot support the
ever-increasing numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS
who are now entering these systems,” Satcher
continues. “That has left many of them with
inadequate access to health care, especially those for
whom private health insurance is entirely out of
reach.”
Continued
flat-funding of the Ryan White Act, which the Bush
administration has recommended, will do nothing to help poor
HIV-positive Americans get the care and support they
need, Satcher writes. “Instead, it will only
serve to pit city against city and state against state for
the limited dollars available,”
he writes.
“A person’s ability to receive treatment
should not depend upon where in the country they
live.”
Satcher currently
works as the interim president of the Morehouse School
of Medicine in Atlanta. He served as U.S. surgeon general
from 1998 to 2002. (Advocate.com)
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