Fewer Georgians on Wait-list for HIV Medication
Five-hundred and three HIV-positive Georgians who can’t pay for their medicine remain on a wait-list for treatment.
That’s the second-longest wait-list in the U.S.
But it’s a marked improvement compared to a year ago, when Georgia’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program wait list stood at about 1,700.
A one-time federal cash infusion helped stabilize the numbers.
More recently, the new federal Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan has taken hundreds off the waitlist.
PCIP, as it’s called, is part of the federal Affordable Care Act.
So what if the US Supreme Court repeals the law?
“We don’t have an answer to that,” says Dr. Patrick O’Neal with the Georgia Department of Public Health.
“This program is so needed and so valuable that we’re optimistic that whatever happens, [PCIP] will be maintained.”
O’Neal says making treatment available to all HIV-positive people is a good, long-term prevention tool. That’s because recent science shows today’s anti-retroviral drugs all but stop transmission of the virus.
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes WABE, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
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