PI Action alerts & updates ... 2002

ATAC’s “Save ADAP” Campaign Gaining Steam
What You Can Do In August!

August 12, 2002 — There has been a huge response to the AIDS Treatment Advocates Coalition’s “SAVE ADAP” campaign. Many of you have asked what you can do right now to help. Below are some actions you can take right now to help urge Congress to support adequate funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

1. Write a personal letter to be hand-delivered to Congress:
Some members of the ATAC “Save ADAP” Committee will be in Washington, DC in early September to meet with key legislators and urge their support for a $162 million increase for ADAP. We will also deliver letters of support from constituents to their Representatives and Senators. You can be a part of this effort by writing a short letter to your Representative and two U.S. Senators asking them to support a $162 million increase for ADAP. If you send us your letters, we will hand-deliver them to your elected officials.

Letters should be addressed properly (see sample letter below), signed, and include your mailing address. Handwritten letters are perfectly acceptable and often considered more effective than “business”-style letters. The most important thing is that it includes your personal story-why do you care about this issue?

You can mail or FAX your letter to:
Ryan Clary
Project Inform
205-13th Street #2001
San Francisco, CA 94103
FAX: 415-558-0684

Emailed letters are not recommended, as they should include your signature. However, if you are not able to mail or FAX your letters, you may email them to rclary@projectinform.org and we will print them out and distribute them as well.

Please also ask others to write letters as well! If you work or volunteer with an AIDS Service Organization, you can ask other staff, volunteers, and clients to write letters. Offer to collect and send them-the best way to ensure that someone writes a letter is to have them do it right then and tell them that you’ll send it for them!

Finding your Reps:
Letters should be written to your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators. If you need help identifying your elected officials, you can (1) call Project Vote Smart at 1-888-868-3762 or check out their website, www.vote-smart.org or (2) email Ryan Clary at rclary@projectinform.org with your street address, including zip code.

Sample Letter:

The Honorable_________________
U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515 (for House)/20510 (for Senate)

Dear Representative/Senator ________________. I urge you to support a $162 million increase for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) for Fiscal Year 2003. ADAP, funded through Title II of the Ryan White CARE Act, provides access to treatment for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS who are uninsured or without adequate prescription drug coverage. Currently, many state ADAPs are in a financial crisis and have been forced to implement limits to treatment access, including waiting lists.

Insert personal statement here. If you or someone you care about depends on ADAP, talk a little bit about the importance of the program. Otherwise, write a few sentences discussing why you care about this issue.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a $100 million increase for ADAP. While this amount is appreciated and badly needed, it falls short of the $162 million identified by experts as needed to allow state ADAPs to meet the minimum needs of those they are serving. I hope that you will do everything in your power to support the $162 million increase for ADAP and the highest possible funding for all HIV/AIDS programs.

Sincerely,
Your name
Your complete home address

2. Write a “letter to the editor”:
Letters to the editor of local newspapers are a great way to both educate the general public about important issues and to capture the attention of Members of Congress. Elected officials and/or their staff often read these letters to find out what issue their constituents are concerned about. They also pay attention if their name is mentioned in the letter!

You are encouraged to write a letter about the ADAP crisis and send it to your local paper, whether it’s a major newspaper or a smaller community paper. If it’s printed, send a copy of the letter to your Representative and Senators’ office.

Congress.org makes contacting your local newspapers easy. Many of them accept Letters to the Editor via email. To find out if your local papers accept email submissions, go to www.congress.org and click on “Media Guide”, type in your zipcode, and get the results.

If possible, please send a copy of any letters to the editor that your write to Ryan Clary at the address/FAX or email address listed above.

Sample Letter to the Editor:
(feel free to pick and choose from the facts and arguments in this sample letter. Also, just like your letter to elected officials, make sure you personalize this letter as well. You might want to check with your local paper to find out what their word limit is):

Dear Editor:

As I write this, many eligible low- and moderate-income Americans living with HIV in 14 states wait desperately for life-extending medications they cannot access due to yet another year of inadequate funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). This federal program administered by the states that provides access to HIV/AIDS treatments to uninsured and underinsured Americans who do not qualify for health coverage under Medicaid. It is an integral component of the national response to AIDS.

Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 40,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That translates into an average of 4.5 new infections every hour of every day. The CDC further estimates that there are between 850,000 and 950,000 people living with HIV in American today. Among those hardest hit by the epidemic are women, adolescents, and people of color-people who may have the fewest financial and social resources to gain access to appropriate treatments. Rather than seeing reductions in the number of Americans living with HIV/AIDS, the CDC’s surveillance data shows that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS has increased by 7.9% from 1999 to 2000.

Clearly, the AIDS epidemic in America is far from over. Yet, our federal government’s response, especially that of the Bush Administration, which has requested no new funding in fiscal year 2003 for HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs, is not keeping pace with the growing needs of those living longer with HIV or those newly infected and waiting to enter the care system. The increasing burden on states to close the gap between treatment needs and federally funded support has evolved into a life and death crisis for people living with HIV and AIDS.

While some members of the Congress have clearly demonstrated their sensitivity to and awareness of this crisis, the Bush Administration seems obstinately fashioned to providing no increases for HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs in the upcoming funding year that begins October 1. Already 12 states have fully expended available funds for FY 2002. There are over 600 people in North Carolina alone on a waiting list for treatment, and 13 other states report that they will soon need to implement some kind of restrictions, from waiting lists to capping the number of prescriptions available to eligible enrollees.

AIDS policy experts conclude that an increase of $162 million is needed in this appropriations cycle to save ADAPs from shutting down across the country, leaving eligible beneficiaries with no access to treatment. Congress must find the strength and ambition to challenge the Administration’s negligence and secure this vital lifeline for Americans living with HIV and AIDS. Anything less is unacceptable.

3. Attend any local “town hall meetings” organized by your Members of Congress.
During recesses, many Members of Congress hold “town hall meetings” in their districts to update constituents about what’s going on in Washington and to solicit input. This is a great opportunity to address the ADAP crisis in person if you are not able to have a separate meeting with your legislators. Call your Representative and Senators’ local offices and ask if they are organizing any public meetings during the August recess.

4. Mark your calendar!
Please put the following dates in your calendar and plan to be part of our upcoming “call-in” days.

Week of August 26th: Call your Representative/Senators’ district office and ask for them to fight for $162 million increase for ADAP. Look for an Alert the week before with a sample phone message.

September 4th: Call your Representative/Senators’ DC office. Welcome them back to DC and remind them about the ADAP crisis (and that you’re paying attention to how they vote!). Look for an Alert a few days prior with sample phone message and contact information. Please forward this Alert as widely as you can and ask others to get involved! If you are not receiving these Alerts through a regular email network, you can make sure that you receive all of our upcoming Alerts by emailing us at SaveADAP@hotmail.com.

For more information, contact one of the following Save ADAP Committee members:

ll Arnold (DC)
202-588-1775
weaids@tiicann.org

Jean-Michel Brevelle (Maryland)
301-890-5132
jmbrevelle@earthlink.net

Steve Carroll (Oregon)
503-288-6582
stevecarroll@attbi.com

Lei Chou (New York)
TheAccessProject@aol.com

Ryan Clary (California)
415-558-8669 x224
rclary@projectinform.org

Mark Garrett (Washington)
cruisingu@msn.com

Sue Gibson (Texas)
suegibson@nova1.net

Kathie Hiers (Alabama)
205-324-9822 ext. 331
Kathie@aidsalabama.org

David Munar (Illinois)
312-922-2322
dmunar@aidschicago.org

Robert O’Brien (Pennsylvania)
215-803-5181
robrien@temple.edu

Jerry Spillman (California)
gspillman@earthlink.net