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New Brunswick, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today joined New Jersey HIV/AIDS patients, activists, health care providers and state officials to decry legislation to reauthorize the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act that would disproportionately impact New Jersey HIV/AIDS patients.
The New Jersey congressman, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee which has jurisdiction over the CARE Act, vows to fight to keep the current level of funding in place for New Jersey. Under the Act, more than $1.5 billion in federal funds is distributed to complement the services being provided at the state level and by non-profit organizations. In 2004, New Jersey received approximately $87 million in CARE Act dollars.
Last month, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed a plan that will penalize New Jersey. While some members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee would like to pass a bill similar to the Senate bill, Pallone is working to build support in Committee for an alternative proposal that would maintain current funding levels for New Jersey's HIV/AIDS programs.
According to initial federal estimates, the proposed funding formula could cost New Jersey as much as $4 million in federal HIV/AIDS funding per year over the next three years. Under the current Senate proposal, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon Counties would face a combined annual cut of $113,000. One of the biggest losers in the state would be Jersey City, which faces nearly a 20-percent cut of $517,580 per year.
Additionally, New Jersey's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), one of the most generous prescription drug programs in the nation, would lose approximately $2.5 million in funding per year. The New Jersey congressman said this would seriously undermine the state's ability to continue providing access to all prescription drugs without any waiting lists.
Pallone voiced concern that the current plan determines eligibility and distributes funding based only on the number of new AIDS cases reported in the last five years. The federal government ignores newly reported HIV cases and AIDS patients who have been living with the disease for more than five years. The New Jersey congressman said this hurts states like New Jersey, which have a comprehensive array of services that keep people healthy and alive.
"For years, New Jersey has been at the forefront of treating this epidemic," Pallone said. "As a result, HIV/AIDS patients here are living longer and have a better quality of life. Rather than rewarding our success, we are being punished. This sets up a perverse disincentive for other states that are watching right now. It says to them, you will be penalized for keeping people alive and well. This is not the message Washington should be sending back to the states."
Pallone said New Jersey consistently ranks fifth in the nation in the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases. The state has the highest proportion of AIDS cases among women and ranks third overall in cases of pediatric AIDS.
The New Jersey congressman was joined by Vincenza DiPoalo, mother of child with HIV and pediatric AIDS research advocate, Jackie Williams, HIV/AIDS patient and member of "Our Voices" Patient Advocacy Organization, Stephen Scheuermann, Chair of the New Jersey State HIV/AIDS Coalition, Karen Walker, Director of HIV Services, Paterson Counseling Center in Passaic County and Roseann Marone, Program Coordinator of the Robert Wood Johnson AIDS Program.
The Ryan White CARE Act was enacted in 1990 to improve the quality and availability of care for individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS. It is named after Ryan White, an 18 year old teenager who died of AIDS in 1990. The current authorization for the CARE Act expired on September 30, 2005. |
