Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
February 3, 1999, Wednesday, CONSTITUTION
EDITION
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 03F
LENGTH: 513 words
SERIES: Home
HEADLINE: HealthWatch;
Lack of care, drugs problem
for HIV-positive
BYLINE: Lillian Lee Kim
DATELINE: Chicago
BODY:
Lack of access to quality medical care and expensive drugs for
people with HIV is a significant problem in the United States, especially among
minorities, and up to half of the nation's HIV-infected people are not under a
doctor's care, AIDS experts reported Tuesday.
"We must attack the
unacceptable disparities in care," said Dr. Samuel Bozzette of the University of
California, San Diego. He presented the first national study of HIV costs and
use of services Tuesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections in Chicago, a scientific meeting of top AIDS experts.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 650,000 to 900,000 people
in the United States are HIV-positive, with 40,000 new infections per year. The
HIV cost study, which was funded by public and private sources, concludes that
about 335,000 people with HIV are under medical supervision. Many of the
remainder, experts speculated, may not know they've been infected or face
barriers to care.
The odds for survival are much worse for those without
regular care, and they include a disproportionate number of African-Americans
and Hispanics --- the groups showing rapid rises in HIV infection rates.
"Deficient care is not equally distributed across populations," Bozzette
said. "Access to care is unequal in the U.S."
Ironically, AIDS
researchers have been criticized for tending to emphasize treatments affordable
only to wealthy nations such as the United States. Of the roughly 33 million
people worldwide who are HIV-positive, more than 90 percent live in
underdeveloped countries with little or no access to basic health care, let
alone costly anti-HIV drugs. This points up the need for greater AIDS prevention
efforts and development of an AIDS vaccine, some say.
The drugs do make
a difference, as shown by recent decreases in AIDS deaths. In many cases, they
can delay or prevent HIV from progressing to full-blown AIDS. But many can't
afford HIV drugs. Some have jobs but don't have insurance. Others can't meet the
co-payments --- a year's worth of drugs averages $ 10,000-$ 15,000 --- or don't
meet state criteria for Medicaid.
Bozzette urged more government funding
for those who fall between the health care cracks. This year, Georgia's
Department of Medical Assistance requested $ 2.8 million for an extension of
Medicaid to provide care for 1,000 HIV-positive people ineligible for aid.
The extended program must first be approved by a federal waiver, which
could take at least a year. Meanwhile, Gov. Roy Barnes elected instead to add $
1.8 million to the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program until the waiver is
granted.
"Once we do obtain the waiver, we will be able to offer a
narrow basket of services to HIV-infected persons, from drug therapy to access
to primary care," said Margaret Taylor, DMA's chief deputy commissioner.
But the additional $ 1.8 million, which will fund HIV drugs for 200
Georgians, still leaves 1,100 more on ADAP's waiting list, said
Jeff Graham, executive director of the AIDS Survival Project.
LOAD-DATE: February 3, 1999
