AIDS Funding Advocates Want More From Obama

President Barack Obama’s $25 million package to fund AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) nationwide was helpful but not enough, say advocates of the program.

In July, the White House announced that it would distribute the funds to states in which waiting lists for HIV and AIDS treatment had developed. That figure fell far short of the $126 million that lawmakers and groups had asked for from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Though the initial investment helped some states stave off immediate crisis - the state of Iowa, for example, used its funds to eliminate its ADAP waiting list entirely - waiting lists in other states have grown since then, and some states, including Iowa, have been forced to cap enrollments. Currently, over 3,200 Americans in nine states are waiting to receive treatment.

“The president deserves credit for [the $25 million package] but it’s not enough,” says Brandon Macsata, CEO of the ADAP Advocacy Association. “The numbers back it up, the waiting lists are growing.”

Created in 1987 and then incorporated by Congress into the Ryan White Care Act three years later, ADAP has provided hundreds of thousands of low-income AIDS-stricken Americans who are ineligible for Medicaid, access to affordable drugs.

During a Democratic fundraiser in Manhattan on Wednesday night, Obama was interrupted during his speech by protestors demanding more AIDS funding. The president responded by saying his administration has increased funding, despite a tightening budget. He then added that if Republicans win back Congress this fall, “I promise you they’ll cut AIDS funding.”

Macsata, however, says that while federal funding of ADAP is technically higher now than it has been in the past, the federal share of the program’s annual budget is dwindling. Non-profit groups like his and the Community Access National Network are contributing far more to ADAP than the government these days. As a result, people are starting to take action.

“The waiting lists are the tip of the iceberg, Macsata told me. “There are hundreds of people who have been dis-enrolled [from ADAP] and are not eligible for the program anymore, and that’s why you see the protests.”

Activists lament the fact that Congress has yet to come up with the leftover $101 million that has been requested, particularly at a time when spending $1 billion causes few in Washington to bat an eye. Democrats have proposed emergency legislation, but have been unable to muster support due to concerns that their bill isn’t paid for, and a GOP-led effort in the Senate has stalled.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), co-sponsor of a bill that would direct unobligated Recovery Act funds towards ADAP, says the White House has turned a blind eye to what it considers a relatively minor issue. The administration, says Burr, is so preoccupied with large-scale healthcare reform “that they’re willing to let some go without the products they need.”

Burr told me that he will attempt to bring his bill to the floor one more time before the Senate adjourns, but doubts whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will allow it to proceed.