Copyright 1999 Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles
Times
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December 5, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 40; Metro Desk
LENGTH: 807 words
HEADLINE:
CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST;
CALIFORNIA TO RECEIVE MORE FEDERAL FUNDS TO
FIGHT AIDS;
HEALTH: MONEY WILL AID RESEARCH AT UNIVERSITIES, AS WELL
AS RESIDENTIAL AND OUTPATIENT TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR THE ESTIMATED 44,000
RESIDENTS WITH THE DISEASE.
BYLINE: NICK ANDERSON,
TIMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The new federal budget will boost funding in
California for an array of AIDS-related programs--including emergency
assistance, drug treatment and basic research--that have ballooned in size over
the last several years.
Experts say that the increases, contained in a
spending bill President Clinton signed into law Monday, reflect to a large
extent the cost of progress: While the annual rate of new AIDS cases and
AIDS-related deaths in the United States has plunged, the number of people
living with acquired immune deficiency syndrome is rising.
"We do well
on AIDS funding," said Tim Ransdell, executive director of the California
Institute for Federal Policy Research in Washington, "and it's for an
unfortunate reason--because we have a relatively high proportion of the nation's
AIDS needs."
An unusual bipartisan consensus in Washington has driven
funding for AIDS health services under the Ryan White Care Act
to $ 1.59 billion nationwide for the 12 months that began Oct. 1. That's 13%
more than the year before and almost five times higher than the 1993 level.
The act is named for the teenager who won renown battling AIDS and
community prejudice before he died in 1990. One of the law's chief goals is to
help poor people with AIDS obtain what would otherwise be prohibitively
expensive drug treatments and other types of health care, bridging a gap in
federal Medicare and Medicaid programs.
At the same time, federal money
for AIDS research in the coming year will surpass $ 2 billion, roughly double
the amount spent in 1993.
Last year, California received 14% to 24% of
key portions of the federal Ryan White money, analysts say. California also gets
a sizable slice of the federal research money--close to one out of every five
dollars--according to the AIDS Policy Research Center at UC San Francisco. The
state should wind up with similar amounts in the coming year.
More than
44,000 Californians have AIDS, according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
That's 15% of the nationwide total of 288,000. Also, the foundation estimates
that the state accounts for about one of every five new HIV infections reported
each year.
Although AIDS activists welcome the funding for research and
treatment, some complain that the government is not doing enough to halt the
spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. The annual HIV
prevention budget at the Centers for Disease Control is about $ 700 million.
"We've spent more on teaching our kids about the make-believe world of
Pokemon than on teaching them about the real dangers of HIV," said Daniel
Zingale, executive director of AIDS Action in Washington. In a report card
issued on the eve of Wednesday's World AIDS Day, the activist group gave the
government an F for prevention, an A- for research and a B for treatment.
Administration officials dispute that they have neglected prevention.
And they note that this year the United States beefed up its global
AIDS-fighting budget by $ 100 million to combat what President Clinton calls a
worldwide health catastrophe.
In California, some of the largest chunks
of new money will be channeled into basic research at major universities,
including UCLA, USC, UC San Diego, Stanford and UC San Francisco.
Researchers are hot in pursuit of a vaccine. But Steve Morin, director
of a policy research center at UC San Francisco, said AIDS investigators have
racked up discoveries that help fight other diseases, such as cancer and
hepatitis.
Federal AIDS spending singled out at least one Los Angeles
program for a third year. A special $ 2-million appropriation added to the
budget with help from senior Democratic lawmakers Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin
and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa will enable the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare
Foundation to expand a residential and outpatient treatment program, said
foundation President Michael Weinstein.
The funding is not surprising,
considering that about 15,000 people in Los Angeles County have AIDS, health
officials estimate, the second-highest total in the nation behind New York City.
Living With AIDS
While the numbers of new AIDS cases and
AIDS-related deaths have plummeted in recent years, the number of people living
with AIDS--and requiring health services--has risen sharply. Federal spending
for AIDS health services under the Ryan White Care Act--much of
which goes to California--has ballooned.
*
New AIDS
cases in California in 1993: 11,918
In 1998: 3,352
Californians
living with AIDS in 1993: 14,550
In 1998: 41,655*
Funding for
Ryan White Care Act in fiscal 1993: $ 364 million
In
fiscal 2000: $ 1.59 billion
*
* As of October 1999,
estimated figure is 44,000
Sources: White House Office of National AIDS
Policy, San Francisco AIDS Foundation
GRAPHIC:
GRAPHIC-TABLE: Living With Aids / Los Angeles Times
LOAD-DATE: December 5, 1999 
