PI Action alerts & updates ... 2001

Governor George Ryan Moves Forward with ADAP Cut

Immediate $3 Million Ordered Out of Illinois State ADAP Budget

Project Inform urges Illinois residents to respond to this important Action Alert from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago on cuts to the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. For more information about this issue, visit www.aidschicago.org.

Action Bulletin
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
www.aidschicago.org

Despite scores of phone calls and letters from concerned Illinoisans, Governor George Ryan moved forward last week with a severe funding cut to the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). Specifically, he ordered the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to not spend $3 million in state funding earmarked for the program this fiscal year. ADAP provides life-saving AIDS medications to more than 2,700 low-income, HIV-positive people each month. The order takes effect immediately and represents the FIRST EVER funding reduction for AIDS services in Illinois.

IDPH officials have said there will be no immediate impact on clients or program eligibility, and that they will use federal funds as a strategy to temporarily replace the lost state dollars. While client services will not be affected immediately, IDPH will likely give greater scrutiny to new medications before adding them to the program. This means that new treatment, like salvage therapies, will probably not be available through ADAP in the near future.

While the long-term effects of the funding cut to ADAP remain uncertain, eligibility restrictions and other “cost-saving measures” will become necessary if state lawmakers fail to restore funding for the program. Consider the following:

With this cut, state funding for ADAP is reduced from $7 million to just $4 million, a 43% reduction! The cut will not only affect this year’s budget, but may become a permanent reduction beginning with the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2002.

In addition to $7 million in state support, ADAP gets funding from the federal Ryan White CARE Act—$19 million this fiscal year. While Congress has yet to finalize ADAP funding for FY02, low funding amounts in both House and Senate appropriation bills indicate that federal sources alone will not be enough to avert funding shortfalls for ADAPs across the country.

The program saves money by helping people stay healthy, productive, and off of the costlier Medicaid program. Most important, ADAP saves lives.

Action Needed:
Call Gov. Ryan at 217-782-6830 or 312-814-2121 and leave this message:

“Please restore all state funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. This program is critical to the health of people living with HIV/AIDS in Illinois.”

For further information, contact Karen Reitan at 312-922-2322 for more information.