In the news ... 2009

Gov. Schwarzenegger: Fully fund California’s ADAP!

speech given by Dana Van Gorder at
ADAP News Conference and Rally, City Hall, San Francisco, CA
11:30am, November 30, 2009

Good morning. I am Dana Van Gorder, the Executive Director of Project Inform, and I am angry. Each and every one of you has a right to be angry, too.

I am angry because a small number of unbelievably selfish, greedy and arrogant people have driven our nation’s economy into complete disaster, and now, good people all over this country are suffering the loss of their jobs, their homes, their healthcare, and so much more.

The financial collapse that these reckless people have brought upon us has also resulted in a life and death crisis for low-income people living with HIV and AIDS in the State of California — thousands of whom may literally have the pills they depend upon to survive HIV taken out of their mouths.

I, for one, do not intend to return to the days when we saw our brothers and sisters sick with and dying from HIV and AIDS all around us. Many of us remember that all too well, and it was horrifying. It is time for us to act up, and fight back!

Advocates have been unable so far to secure information from the State Office of AIDS to help us understand just how severe a shortfall ADAP faces in the next state budget, but we know enough to estimate that that shortfall could be as large as $100 million.

The Governor's Department of Finance has so far indicated that they will not place ANY additional state dollars into the program next year. There are currently 34,000 people enrolled in ADAP in California. We DO know that the way the State Office of AIDS proposes to deal with the program’s budget shortfall is to REMOVE as many as 8,500 clients who earn between $20,600 and $41,200 from the program. We also understand that, while access to HIV antiretrovirals will be protected for those who remain on ADAP, virtually every OTHER drug that ADAP clients count on to support their health could be REMOVED from the lifesaving formulary of ADAP medications.

Make no mistake about it. These changes most certainly will cost HIV-positive people their health, and even their lives. Combined with the massive $85 million Governor Schwarzenegger just hacked from critical HIV testing, care, social support and prevention programs, they will largely undo 28 years of work to end the loss and suffering caused by HIV and AIDS in California.

Ironically, this terrifying development comes at the very time when HIV advocates are pressing hard for President Obama to develop a National HIV/AIDS Strategy that will bring this epidemic under greater control through new efforts to INCREASE the percentage of HIV-positive people who know their serostatus and who are receiving care and treatment. Shockingly, it also comes at the very moment the United States might FINALLY be poised to adopt national health care reform so that NO American has to worry about whether his or her most basic human right to medical treatment will be protected by a civil society.

I could stand here and say the predictable thing — that the problem with failing to fully fund ADAP is that it merely delays the cost of health care for people with HIV and AIDS to another day when its cost will be significantly higher. But the ADAP crisis is not one purely of finances and cost-effectiveness, or even of fiscal reality; for decision makers will be all too happy to throw up their hands and say that nothing is to be done given the depths of the current recession.

No, the ADAP crisis is one of morality and decency. It is a test of the people of this state and its leaders. The incivility that has brought us to this incredibly inhumane moment cannot be matched with MORE incivility. When it comes to the point that the State of California intends to take lifesaving medications out of the mouths of 35,000 low-income people with HIV and AIDS, decent people have to say to our leaders — THIS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO STAND. FIND A WAY TO PREVENT IT!

Today, we are calling upon the LGBT caucus of the State Legislature to help us to bring together representatives of the Governor's office, Speaker Pelosi, and Senators Feinstein and Boxer, as well as pharmaceutical companies, to develop a plan that assures this crisis is averted. We have several options for them to consider. Let me mention just one.

The State Legislature and Governor simply MUST identify a new revenue stream that will prevent people from losing their medications and becoming ill or dying. The Vehicle License Fee certainly comes to mind as one possibility. Surely it is more just that our cars cost more to drive than that good people face illness and death once again from HIV and AIDS — or that many OTHER vulnerable Californians face the loss of lifesaving health care services that meet THEIR medical needs. We are not just in this battle for ourselves!

There is a massive amount of work to be done in the coming weeks and months to protect the lives of vulnerable Californians from harm in the next state budget. Please join Project Inform, WORLD and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as we do EVERYTHING we possibly can to prevent this crisis from taking place — as we work to protect life from those whose only concern is their own fortune or political career! The lives of those of us who are HIV-positive are worth more than those things. Join us as we ACT UP and fight back!