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 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)