Save America's ADAPs

Please Support the ADAP Emergency Supplemental

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to urge you to support a $126 million emergency Fiscal Year 2010 supplemental appropriation for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).This emergency increase would allow states to continue providing lifesaving medications to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS for the remainder of the fiscal year.

ADAP, part of the Ryan White Program, provides access to treatment for low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS in all states, territories and associated jurisdictions. Some ADAPs go beyond and provide insurance continuation and Medicare Part B wrap-around services to eligible individuals.

More than 166,000 individuals depend on ADAP. The program keeps HIV positive individuals healthy and delays or prevents further disease progression and more costly care. Additionally, effective treatment lowers the amount of virus in the body. Evidence indicates that people with lower viral loads are less likely to transmit HIV to others. Therefore, ADAP supports individual health and the larger public health.

ADAPs are underfunded and unable to serve all in need, especially in states with significant gaps in health care. Every year, the amount of money given to ADAP is far below the need of the program. This year, with many more people needing the help of ADAP because of the economic crisis, the program is more financially stressed than it has ever been before.

Many states have been forced to establish ADAP waiting lists when their finances run low or start to run out. These waiting lists are made up of people eligible for ADAP under the current eligibility guidelines, but there isn’t enough money to provide medications for them. As of February 23rd, there were 559 people on ADAP waiting lists in 11 states, with more states slated to start waiting lists as their ADAP funding runs dry.

However, waiting lists are not the only indicator to watch in gauging this ADAP crisis. Fourteen states have also implemented cost containment strategies, reducing the amount of people eligible to receive ADAPs assistance. While these individuals will not appear on waiting lists, we know that vulnerable HIV+ people who would have been eligible for ADAPs help in previous year may not be able to get assistance today because they no longer qualify.

It is fiscally responsible to support full funding of ADAP -- when people living with HIV are allowed to get sick, the cost of future care is astronomical. In addition, people in care and treatment have been shown to reduce the rates of new HIV transmissions. If ADAP is not fully funded, many HIV+ Americans who rely on the program for life saving medications will get sick, and some will die.

We know ADAP is a life saving program which has allowed HIV+ people to live their lives fully, to do what they dream, and to live with dignity and health. Please do everything in your power to ensure an immediate emergency ADAP supplemental -- ensuring that the lifesaving work of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program can continue.

Thank you for your ongoing leadership on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS.

[Your name]