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ADAP Watch: AIDS Drug Wait List Hits 4774
As of January 26, the wait list to receive lifesaving AIDS medication through the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs had hit 4774 people across 12 states.
The number of people waiting to receive medication through state-run AIDS drug programs has increased more than 5,000 percent since August 2009, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. The federal government has reacted with little urgency, however, allotting just $25 million in additional dollars to the program for FY 2012.
To help readers keep tabs on the growing ADAP crisis, we are now posting the Read More
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:14 am
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ADAP Watch: Iowa ADAP Clients Denied State Insurance Enrollment
The Des Moines Register this week reported that about 100 ADAP clients in the state were denied their only means of health care coverage by a state agency that’s supposed to be insuring people in a “high-risk” pool.
According to the paper, the state was given $35 million in bridge funding from the Obama administration to establish a state insurance program for people unable to get insurance on the market due to being considered “high-risk” applicants. The agency however refuses to accept “third party” payments, leaving one-third of the state’s ADAP enrollees without any coverage at all.
Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines said in a public hearing with the insurance board’s executive director, Cecil Byerk that “There’s no doubt …
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:32 pm
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Mississippi AIDS Activists Brace for Health Budget Slash
Mississippi AIDS activists are bracing for a $10 million cut proposed by the new state legislature that would take the State Department of Health budget to levels last seen in 1990.
“With Governor Bryant in office, we’re in for hard times,” says Luke Versher, Field Organizer of AIDS Action Mississippi.
The Clarion Ledger reported this week that the state was considering slashing the Dept of Health’s budget from $29million to $20million. By comparison, Arkansas’s budget for the Department of Health is more than triple that of Mississippi. Both states have the same size population.
If the $20.7 million budget passes, “it would devastate the critical functions of the Health Department,” said Dr. Luke Lampton, chairman of the state …
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:37 pm
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Guest Post: Banning the Syringe Exchange Ban
by Helen Jack
The federal budget should not be a mechanism for politicians to express their moral views. It should be a tool for ensuring the nation’s health, education, and freedom. Yet by banning funding for syringe exchange programs members of Congress used the budget to express their distaste for drug users. For fiscal year 2012, syringe exchange programs that had been using federal funds for HIV prevention to support their work will no longer be able to do so. The ban cannot be excused based on the need to cut costs—syringe exchange is one of the cheapest ways to prevent the spread of HIV and other blood-borne infections. The syringe exchange funding ban is yet another expression of the misunderstanding and moral …
Posted on January 23, 2012 at 4:11 pm
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ADAP Watch: AIDS Drug Wait List Hits 4,611
As of January 19, the wait list to receive lifesaving AIDS medication through the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs had hit 4,611 people across 12 states.
The number of people waiting to receive medication through state-run AIDS drug programs has increased more than 5,000 percent since August 2009, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. The federal government has reacted with little urgency, however, allotting just $25 million in additional dollars to the program for FY 2012.
To help readers keep tabs on the growing ADAP crisis, we are now posting the ADAP Watch—the document that tracks increasing cuts …
Posted on January 23, 2012 at 12:20 pm
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Buy the Bag is a Big Success and You’re the First to Get the Inside Scoop on 2012 Event Dates!
Recently featured in the New York Times Style Section, HW’s Buy the Bag is a big success! Haven’t checked us out yet? We are happy to announce the buzzed about all-you-can-stuff shopping sales event will continue after February. Housing Works wishes all of our subscribers a very Happy New Year with this inside exclusive on unpublished upcoming sales dates. So print me out and mark your calendars—advance Power Hour tickets go on sale at NOON the Monday prior to each sale.
March 3, 10, 17th, 24th, 31st
April 7th and 14thPosted on January 19, 2012 at 4:10 pm
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Underground Market for HIV Meds: The New “War on Drugs?”
Could the underground sales of HIV medications could become a new extension of the “War on Drugs?”
This week, three different news stories ran in NYC press about the underground market of HIV drugs being sold, mostly to reach shores outside of the US where the demand is even greater.
City Limits ran a feature story on the issue, explaining that a new bill is being considered this session in Albany, that would increase the penalty for selling prescription drugs in the underground market. They write that if the bill becomes law, “first degree ‘criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions’ moves from a C felony (with likely maximum jail time of five to 15 years) to a B felony, …
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 6:04 pm
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Big PhRMA Backs SOPA Bill
What does an internet piracy bill have to do with drug companies? The controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was endorsed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the chief “Big Pharma” lobbyist representing 47 pharmaceutical companies, many of whom produce AIDS drugs.
Though PhRMA has released no official statement on their rationale for supporting the bill, free speech and health care advocates are speculating that drug companies are concerned about competition from online drug retailers, particularly in Canada and India that are promising drugs for American citizens at much lower costs than what can be purchased in the US. They are also likely to argue they’re protecting the safety of the public by preventing people for paying for …
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:20 pm
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