Washington, DC - In response to yesterday's release of the National ADAP Monitoring Report, Florida AIDS Action (FLAA) calls upon elected officials to address the growing medical crisis in our nation, with an emphasis on the need for additional funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

According to Dr. Gene Copello, Executive Director of Florida AIDS Action, "This report clearly shows that ADAPs across the nation continue to face challenges, as do other medically-based programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and the Ryan White CARE Act in regards to medical and support services. It's imperative that these issues be addressed before more individuals loose access to life saving programs."

ADAP is designed to provide uninsured and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS access to life saving prescribed medications. More than 80,000 individuals access ADAP across the nation, including the District of Columbia, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam and Marshall and Mariana Islands, at a given time.

"As it stands," explains National ADAP Working Group Chair Bill Arnold; "we need an additional $145 million immediately to keep ADAPs adequately afloat for the remainder of this fiscal year." He further details the problem, "And, if we don't get emergency supplemental appropriation help for FY '03 we will need at least an additional $283 million more in the
FY 2004 Federal Budget in order to alleviate what will, by then, be disastrous waiting lists and curtailed ADAP programs all over the United States."

According to the report, which was released during a conference call hosted Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 54 of the 56 ADAP programs surveyed responded, revealing that during June of 2002 alone:

· 80,035 clients were served
· 257,279 prescriptions were filled
· Minorities comprised 50% of persons accessing ADAP while white-non Hispanics represented the single largest group accessing care at 37%

Furthermore, the results note that the majority of persons accessing ADAP were uninsured -- 10% reported coverage by Medicaid, 6% by Medicare and 13% had some level of private insurance.

"Changes to Medicaid will lead to more persons accessing ADAP, resulting in more states resorting to cost containing measures such as changing eligibility requirements or creating waiting lists. In the end," explains FLAA Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy Jesse Fry, "individuals living with HIV/AIDS will suffer needlessly."

Despite increases in the ADAP budget over time and an overall slowing in actual numbers of clients served by ADAPs over the past 7 years, the fact remains that the program is not keeping pace with the current need in many states. In fact, ADAP expenditures continue to increase based on several factors:
- Individuals with HIV/AIDS remain in care for longer periods of time due to the effectiveness of treatments
- New HIV infection rates remain steady at 40,000 annually
- The increasing demand for services as agencies provide outreach and testing to at-risk populations

Compounding the crisis are more recent issues such as: federal and state budget deficits; cuts to state Medicaid programs (45 states have pharmacy cost cutting factors in place); rising populations of uninsured and unemployed individuals; costs of prescribed medications to fight AIDS and the side effects of many AIDS medications, including new and expensive AIDS treatments such as T20/Fuzeon; as well as the impact of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) new initiative which calls for increased HIV testing and use of rapid tests to identify more individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

FLAA Board Member Valerie Mincey details, "If we are increasing the number of people accessing services, through expanded testing programs and cuts in other healthcare programs, then we have to increase funding for the program or programs that are expected to carry the burden of care for these newly identified individuals - ADAP needs must be addressed."

The National ADAP Monitoring Report also details that as of February 2003, 16 states reported implementing one or more program restrictions and nine of these states had waiting lists while four more programs "anticipated the need to implement new restrictions in FY 2003, including three that already had at least one restriction in place."

"The private sector is already taking action," notes Murray Penner, Director of Care & Treatment Programs with the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). "ADAPs have already realized savings of approximately $25 million through negotiations with five pharmaceutical companies and we are still in negotiation with three companies that represent 60-70% of ADAP expenditures." He adds, "We hope and believe that industry will continue to provide rebates and price freezes, etc., but we also know that this alone won't save these programs."

"The reality is that more needs to be done," clarifies Dr. Copello. "We don't have much time to act. We agree with the National ADAP Working Group - ADAP needs an additional $145 million to alleviate problems in this fiscal year, as well as an additional $283 million in the Federal Budget for FY 2004, which actually begins October 1, 2003." He explains further, "It is vital that we not forget our under-served populations as we work towards a balanced economy. As we adopt the CDC's new initiative on AIDS and continue current prevention efforts, we must determine how we can provide adequate and appropriate programs and services to individuals living with chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS."

For more information on Florida AIDS Action, as well as information on how to become involved in AIDS advocacy work, please contact Florida AIDS Action by phone at: (813) 232-5886, or by email at: information@floridaaidsaction.org .

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Florida AIDS Action, the only statewide nonprofit HIV/AIDS agency in Florida, promotes social change through community planning, education, public policy research and advocacy. For more information, call (813) 232-5886, or visit on the web at www.floridaaidsaction.org .