PI Action alerts & updates ... 1999

Help Expand Medicaid Coverage
for Low-Income People with HIV

Urge Your Federal Representatives to
Support the “Early Treatment for HIV Act”

In the next few weeks, Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Richard Gephardt (D-MO), and Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) will introduce the “Early Treatment for HIV Act.” This bill would expand Medicaid coverage to include asymptomatic, HIV-positive, low-income individuals. These individuals would have to meet the income and asset criteria for Medicaid programs. Medicaid is a government health care program for low-income individuals who fall under strict eligibility categories, such as the disabled. Over half of all people living with AIDS, and 90% of children with AIDS, rely on Medicaid for healthcare and prescription drugs.

Currently, to qualify for Medicaid, people living with HIV have to qualify both by income level and through the Social Security definition of disability. Social Security uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of AIDS along with evidence of functional impairment as proof of disability. In other words, a low-income HIV-positive person who can’t afford health care insurance has to get sick before he or she can access the health care that could have prevented illness in the first place.

Federal HIV treatment guidelines recommend the use of antiviral therapy early in HIV infection. In addition, research released at last year’s World AIDS Conference in Geneva offered evidence that treatment of HIV infection early in the course of disease is medically beneficial and cost effective, as it may help slow or delay the onset of opportunistic infections and illness. However, because individuals with early infection are not eligible for Medicaid, many low-income people are unable to receive health care and HIV drugs through the program.

The Early Treatment for HIV Act would provide states the option to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals living with HIV. The bill would allow them to receive primary health care and drug therapy before developing AIDS. It could help relieve pressure from cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) and other government programs.

Representatives Pelosi and Gephardt and Senator Torricelli are currently seeking co-sponsors for their legislation.

A strong bi-partisan list of co-sponsors would increase the chances of this bill being passed by Congress. Your help is needed in this effort!

Action Needed:
Write your two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative.

Urge them to co-sponsor the Early Treatment for HIV Act. Stress that this legislation is humane, cost-effective, and consistent with the federal HIV treatment guidelines. To co-sponsor this legislation, your Senators should contact Kyle Mulroy at 202-224-3224 and your Representative should contact Chris Collins at 202-225-4965. Use the sample letter below to help craft your message.

Follow up your letter with a phone call to your elected officials’ local or Washington, DC office.

Ask if the Senator/Representative has co-sponsored the legislation. Be sure to thank them if they have. If they haven’t, ask for a written explanation.

Sample Letter for the Early Treatment for HIV Act

The Honorable ______________
U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510 (Senators) or 20515 (Representatives)

Dear Senator/Representative ________________:

I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor the Early Treatment for HIV Act. This legislation, authored by Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Richard Gephardt, and Senator Richard Torricelli, would expand Medicaid coverage for asymptomatic, HIV-positive, low-income individuals. This expansion would allow these individuals to receive drug treatment and health care before becoming sick. Federal HIV treatment guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services in 1997 recommend the use of antiviral therapy early in the course of HIV infection, before the development of symptoms. However, because Medicaid does not define individuals with early infection as disabled, many low-income individuals are unable to access these treatments.

Insert personal statement here. If you or someone you care about would benefit from Medicaid expansion, discuss that here. You could also write about any difficulties your state might be having providing access to treatment and health care for people with HIV and AIDS.

Research released at last year’s World AIDS Conference offered evidence that treatment of HIV infection early in the course of disease is medically beneficial and cost effective. I encourage you to co-sponsor this humane and cost-effective legislation.

If you would like to co-sponsor the Early Treatment for HIV Act, you can contact Chris Collins in Rep. Pelosi’s office at 202-225-4965 or Kyle Mulroy in Sen. Torricelli’s office at 202-224-3224. Thank you for considering my request. And please inform me of your position on this legislation.

Sincerely,
Your name

ACTION TIP
Not Sure Who Represents You in Washington, DC?
Don’t worry—you’re not alone! However, the first step to establishing a relationship with your elected officials is finding out who they are and how to contact them.

There are several ways to identify your House Representative and U.S. Senators. Look under the U.S. Government Offices listing in the white pages of your telephone directory. You will find your Representative under the listing for Congress of the U.S. If there is more than one listing, contact the offices and give your street address. They will let you know what district you live in.

You can also call your local Registrar of Voters or the League of Women Voters in your area. They will help identify your elected officials.

Finally, if you have Internet access, you can look up your representatives using your zip code at www.capweb.net or at www.congress.org/congressorg/home or at www.house.gov/writerep. These sites have excellent information about your elected officials.

Needle Exchange Ban Resurrected
In early February, Representatives Dick Armey (R-TX), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), sent a letter to their colleagues in the House of Reps asking them to co-author a bill they will introduce this year. This proposed legislation would put a permanent ban on federal funds for needle exchange programs. Currently, there is a one-year ban on such funding. Meanwhile, Senators Paul Coverdell (R-GA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) will introduce similar legislation on the Senate side.

TAN members have been highly active in urging their elected officials to make sure that this issue is decided by public health officials, and not politicians. Look for future TAN Alerts on this ongoing battle.

For more information on joining TAN, just send us your name, address, phone, fax and email information.

By Mail:
Project Inform
205 135th St
Suite 2001
San Francisco, CA
94103-2461

By FAX:
415 558-0684
Attention TAN Coordinator
By Email:
TAN@projectinform.org
Attention TAN Coordinator