AHF Lauds House for Passing Ryan White AIDS Funding Bill
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ — 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 applauded the United States House of Representatives for its 325 to 98 vote today to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act (RWCA), the federal law that provides the principle source of funding for AIDS care and services nationwide. The proposal seeks to update the CARE Act by prioritizing core medical services, reducing bureaucracy and promoting a more equitable distribution of funds across the country.
On Friday, Senator Mike Enzi (R, WY), co-sponsor of the Enzi/Kennedy bill, the Senate version of the House bill, will ask the Senate for a vote for cloture to forestall a possible filibuster and circumvent a hold placed on the Senate bill by Senators Hillary Clinton (D, NY) and Barbara Boxer (D, CA). Cloture would allow the Senate to act expeditiously on the bill before Saturday’s midnight deadline for passage.
“AHF applauds the House of Representatives for embracing the changes necessary to allow the CARE Act to better respond to the current epidemic,” said Michael Weinstein, AHF’s President. “First and foremost, HIV/AIDS is now a chronic, but treatable medical condition, and through this proposal, legislation and funding will finally catch up to where the disease and the greatest needs are today. We are heartened by today’s vote to reauthorize the CARE Act, which, by prioritizing medical care over bureaucracy, will bring more people into treatment nationwide. We believe this is a more even-handed approach to funding distribution that recognizes the needs of underserved communities and areas without greatly impacting funding for states with more mature epidemics.”
Late last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that for the first time, more than one million Americans were living with HIV. Almost half of those infected are not consistently accessing care and treatment, and more than one quarter of the million nationwide are unaware they are infected with HIV. AHF supports the CDC’s recent recommendation to move toward routine HIV testing, and hopes that provisions will be made in the reauthorized CARE Act to support the routine offering of HIV testing in an effort to de-stigmatize the disease and bring more people into treatment.
“AHF supports Senator Enzi’s efforts to ensure timely action on this bill before Saturday’s deadline and urges the Senate to act quickly on reauthorizing the CARE Act, which provides a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Americans living with HIV/AIDS,” added AHF’s Weinstein.
The CARE Act was first introduced in 1990 and is reauthorized every five years. The bill was set for its most recent reauthorization in September 2005, but Congress had yet to act on it. Should the House and Senate not re-authorize the bill by this Saturday, September 30th, the bill will expire, and funding for the lifesaving programs and services operating under it will cease.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
CONTACT: Ged Kenslea, Communications Director, +1-323-860-5225, ormobile, +1-323-791-5526, or Lori Yeghiayan, Associate Director ofCommunications, +1-323-860-5227, or mobile, +1-323-377-4312, both of AIDSHealthcare Foundation