Sorry, this might not be an appropriate diary, but I need to bring attention to this issue. Anyone who knows more about this issue and can add info, please start another diary on the topic.
As you may know, ADAP is national a program that helps to provide HIV meds to low income people. Many states have begun to cut back their contributions to the program leading to waitlists. This is leading to unnecessary deaths as poor people with HIV are forced to wait for medicine that can keep them alive.
Medications have been so successful that many medical authorities now consider HIV to be a chronic condition. It is no longer the death sentence it once was. But if South Carolina goes forward with its plan to eliminate state funding for HIV treatment, we will return to the way it was in the 1980s where HIV was a death sentence.
This week in South Carolina, state lawmakers are about to sign on to what essentially can be called a death warrant for people living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina. Tomorrow the legislature will hold a hearing to terminate the state's financial contribution to HIV/AIDS programs. This means in South Carolina, HIV-prevention, testing and treatment will stop as new HIV-infection cases are expected to continue to climb.
What we are seeing before our own eyes is a return to AIDS in the 80's as South Carolina launches a genocide against it's mostly African American, vulernable residents at high risk of HIV-infection. One person was recently confirmed dead while on a waitlist for the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. In 2006, three deaths were recorded for a similar waitlist.
Action must be taken now. If you live in South Carolina, Bilerico has the info for a May 25 protest.
Please do what you can to stop this. Thousands of lives are at stake.
Update: There is some info in the comments which might be relevant, but I am not going to add without confirmation via links.
jlms qkw says that a similar bill was offered in Utah, but the legislative analyst said that the bill would be illegal, and thus the effort went nowhere. If anyone can offer a link to that info, it would be great news and may well apply here.
Update II: Thanks for rec'ing this diary. It will help to get the word out. It is appreciated greatly.
Update III: If you want to know how the huge difference meds make please read this comment by Oregon Gal.
Mini-Update: I guess I should also congratulate the DailyKos community for sending this to the top of the rec-list where it will get the most possible exposure. Thank you very much.
Update IV: H/T jlms qkw -- a similar maneuver was stopped in the Utah legislature. Why? Because it doesn't really save much money at all.
Saving money can be expensive. But in this case, it is prohibitively so. If the Ryan White program is allowed to lapse, Utah would sacrifice the health of HIV/AIDS patients and forfeit $3.8 million in federal funds to save state taxpayers a paltry $45,000. (The balance of the $1.4 million state match necessary to leverage the federal funds is provided through "in-kind" services -- money spent on other existing programs that the state will fund with or without the Ryan White grant.)
Now, it appears that committee members were unaware of the paltry savings that would be gained by abolishing the program. Their objections apparently stemmed from a lack of knowledge, not cold hearts.
Waddoups, after learning how little the state would save, says he no longer sees a need to chop the program. Hopefully, his fellow committee members will agree when they meet next month, and the grant application will be submitted before services to this vulnerable population are disrupted.
While the actual dollar figures that might be "saved" in South Carolina might be slightly different, it won't be dramatic. The only purpose, then, for South Carolina to refuse to participate would be the "cold hearts" the Salt Lake Tribune says the Utah legislators don't have. Cold. Cruel. Heartless.