Crystal D. Swann
October 9, 2006

As Congress recessed September 29 until after the Nov 7 elections, among the work left undone was the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act, the primary federal funding source for HIV/AIDS treatment and care in the United States The House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 6143) that would change CARE Act funding formulas so that rural areas experiencing increasing numbers of HIV/AIDS cases receive increased funding amounts, which would decrease funding allocated to urban areas. However the legislation stalled in the Senate.

The bill would authorize funding increases of 3.7 percent annually from 2008 through 2011. In addition it also would require that 75 percent of CARE Act funds be used for “core medical services,” while remaining funds would be allocated for care-related services.

Senators, mainly from states with large urban cities, objected, arguing that the way to help those patients is not to take funding away from other states like New York but to increase funding for the entire program.

While current law only counts patients with full-blown AIDS, the revision also would count patients with the HIV virus who have not developed AIDS. That change would favor parts of the country where the disease is a newer phenomenon, which tend to be Southern and rural areas.

As a result, New York State stands to lose $100 million over the five years of the bill. New Jersey would lose $70 million. Alabama, by contrast, would get an increase from $11 million a year to about $18 million a year.