A new study from the National Alliance of State AIDS Directors (NASTAD) and the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that twenty-one state AIDS drug assistance programs (ADAPs) reported patients having difficulty getting access to their programs.

According to the ninth annual National ADAP Monitoring Project Report, the ADAP budget rose by 11 percent in 2004, enabling thirty-eight ADAPs to provide more people with medications. The higher funding was due to substantial increases in state funding (32 percent) and drug rebates (33 percent), as well as an additional $20 million in federal funds made available to provide medications directly to people living in ten states with waiting lists in place during the summer of 2004. But despite increased state and federal funding levels and special efforts to reduce waiting lists, the need for medications still exceeds the funds available in some states.

Each year, approximately 136,000 people, representing about 30 percent of the individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., receive services from ADAPs. In order to qualify, a person living with HIV/AIDS must have no other funding source available to them for medications or limits on their drug coverage. The majority of ADAP clients are low-income, male, uninsured, and/or people of color, and many have advanced HIV disease.

"This is an ongoing, severe crisis in which many states are desperately struggling to provide these life-saving medications to people in need," said NASTAD executive director Julie Scofield. "With needs outpacing resources, ADAPs continue to face difficult choices to keep programs solvent and continue access to medications for current clients and new individuals joining the care system."

To download the complete report, visit: http://www.kff.org/hivaids/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/
security/getfile.cfm&PageID=52593.