From: TEST MESSAGE FROM: AIDS Healthcare Foundation [community@aidshealth.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 10:57 AM
To: Michael Weinstein
Subject: Action Alert: Pres. Obama & Sec. Sebelius - AIDS Patients Need Your Help
Sign on NOW to the letter below urging U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius to transfer $25 million in unspent HHS funds to cash-strapped state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs).
Sign on—as an individual or as an organization—and join AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Housing Works, HIV Dental Organization, Community Access National Network, the ADAP Advocacy Association, Southern AIDS Coalition, A Brave New Day and AIDS Alabama in sending this plea on behalf of the 8,100 patients in 13 states who are currently on ADAP waiting lists, and the thousands more who are being denied access by new eligibility restrictions.
President Obama and Secretary Sebelius have the power to stop the waiting lists and save lives. Ask them to use it—sign on today.
Let your voice be heard!
Sincerely,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Re: Emergency Funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
Dear Mr. President & Secretary of HHS,
We, the undersigned AIDS organizations and individuals, appeal to you on behalf of the 8,100 patients in thirteen states currently waiting for access to life-saving medications from the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) and the thousands more who are being denied access by new ADAP eligibility restrictions. Their collective well-being is in your hands. They’re crying out for your leadership now!
Since the ADAP crisis began, waiting lists have increased from 99 people in June 2009 to 2937 in September 2010 to over 8,100 today. Tragically, there have been deaths attributable to the lack of access to care. Further, ADAP waiting lists are the “Tip of the Iceberg” – a larger crisis looms as more states restrict eligibility thus creating invisible waiting lists of thousands of helpless people who are denied treatment. The crisis confronting the nation’s ADAPs grows worse by the day, and more people will soon be put in harm’s way without an immediate infusion of federal funds into the program.
In 2010 an additional $25 million for ADAPs was reprogrammed from unspent HHS funds by Presidential order. We beseech you to find at least another $25 million for an immediate transfer into ADAP for FY 2011.
A recent NIH study shows that treating AIDS patients with anti-retroviral drugs makes them decidedly less infectious. Dr. Anthony Fauci has called such treatment a significant tool that can have a major impact on the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic. This discovery gives new urgency to full funding for ADAPs. Patients getting treatment from ADAP are 96% less likely to pass on the virus than are patients waiting for or excluded from access, or those who are so discouraged by waiting lists that they wait to get tested. Full funding of ADAPs is one of our most effective tools for preventing the spread of the AIDS virus.
An ugly truth about the ADAP waiting lists is that they disproportionately impact the South, communities of color, and, in many cases, some of the most impoverished areas in the country. In fact, over 94% of ADAP waiting list patients now reside in the South. Florida alone has 3,825 people on its waiting list, has reduced its formulary, and has transitioned 5,403 patients into drug company patient assistance programs. Additionally, there is a major political struggle going on right now over proposals to reduce income qualification from 400% of poverty to 200%. Again, this will disproportionately hurt poorer patients and communities of color. Indeed, if Florida cuts the ADAP financial eligibility, states across the South and the nation will likely follow suit.
Heroic Florida patients are awakening to the danger. Hundreds have demonstrated against the cuts in 4 Florida cities, with more than 1,000 protesting in Miami. Their anger, frustration, despair and need are patent. These Americans are crying out to you, PLEASE HELP!
Sincerely,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Housing Works
HIV Dental Organization
Community Access National Network
ADAP Advocacy Association
AIDS Alabama
Southern AIDS Coalition
A Brave New Day
