Crisis in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico receives more than $53 million in Ryan White Care Act funds but activists have documented numerous cases of people living with HIV/AIDS who are unable to access medication. The commonwealth still offers none of its own funding for prevention programs for IV drug users, who account for a majority of new infections, and community-groups still wait for desperately needed funding. In December 2006, the FBI raided four San Juan Health Department offices, seizing 400 boxes of documents in a criminal investigation into possible misuse of Ryan White grants.
In addition, while the U.S. government covers at least 50 percent of the bill for states’ Medicaid funding, it caps the amount of Medicaid dollars it will give to U.S. territories. This discrepancy severely limits territories’ funding streams, and means that in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, only the poorest citizens qualify for Medicaid and people, including those living with HIV/AIDS and other diseases are the ones who suffer.
Housing Works has been deeply involved with addressing the Puerto Rico AIDS crisis, most recently working with a delegation of Puerto Rican activists that met with Congress and the White House to address these disparities.
How can you help?
- Contact your senators and urge them to make sure health care reform legislation includes amending the Social Security Act to provide for payment parity for U.S. territories under the Medicaid Program, and for other purposes.
- Support our advocacy work by becoming a Housing Works member
- Subscribe to our AIDS Issues Update e-newsletter to stay current on the issues and receive action alerts
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Published every two weeks, the AIDS Issues Update is your inside source for in-depth activism news. Includes the best of the AIDS Issues Update blog.
Contact
The AIDS Issues Update is written by Diana Scholl. Send thoughts and story tips to Diana at d.scholl@housingworks.org.
