There is an AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) crisis in our nation, and Virginia is not exempt. Some patients currently on ADAP are seeing their benefits terminated completely. As you read this, there are approximately 760 patients who are being disenrolled from this vital and life-saving program. Health officials state this drastic move to is save the entire program from running out of funds prior to the end of the grant year in March. Those being kicked out are patients who joined most recently, those who have not picked up their medications within the last five months, and there is some speculation that those with higher CD4 counts (the cells of our immune system) are being disenrolled as well. All of this was highlighted in a December letter from Dr. Karen Remley, Virginia's Health Commissioner.

Yes, those living with HIV are living longer, healthier lives. This is an incredible accomplishment. This is what health care workers, advocates and researchers have been working tirelessly for. HIV/AIDS is no longer the "death sentence" it seemingly was at the start of the epidemic. Yet apparently my next statement will be a newsflash to the health officials of Virginia (and in most parts of our nation): it's because of these life-saving medications that people are living with, and not dying from, HIV disease, not in spite of them.

What is going on in the minds of these health officials? To take medications away from a person with a life-threatening illness, no matter how stable they are, is deadly. HIV-positive individuals depend upon these medications to ensure they remain stable and healthy. Those working in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment know how vital medication adherence is for the management of HIV disease. Yet health officials are making it nearly impossible for many patients to remain adherent. Seriously, this is like taking a person with heart disease off their medications just because they haven't had a heart attack in a few years. From a health perspective, this is all counter-productive, illogical, and ultimately, deadly.

Health officials say they will save money in the short term to save the overall program. Nothing could be less cost-effective than this. Once again, those without their meds will see a decline in their health. This is not an assumption, it is a clear fact. Once those 760 patients see a drop in their CD4 counts and a rise in their viral load, they will be susceptible to further medical complications, more intensive health issues, and  a need for more intensive and costly medical intervention. If health officials choose to only hear talk of dollars and cents, then hear this: Denying medications to HIV+ patients will without a doubt cost the state millions more in treatment costs. Prevention of progressive disease is always more cost effective than intensive and life-saving treatment. Not to mention more humane.

When will people living with HIV/AIDS be treated like other patients living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses? When will health officials make decisions based on health issues and compassion and not the fiscal bottom line?  We will continue to ask these questions and pressure state officials until we get answers and change.