AHF Requests $50M Help from Global Fund, Warren Buffett to End AIDS Drug Crisis in US

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today submitted an application on behalf of the United States to the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for an emergency grant of $50 million to end the ongoing AIDS drug crisis in the U.S. A similar grant request was submitted to billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett via letter. Currently, over 10,000 Americans with HIV/AIDS are on a waiting list or have been dropped by the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), the network of federal and state funded programs that provide life-saving HIV treatments to low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS nationwide. With the Obama administration's refusal to provide for this care, an emergency infusion of funding is needed to reinforce the tattered AIDS safety net in the United States.

The Global Fund is an international organization set up to provide funding to poorer countries that do not have the financial or political ability to combat diseases such as AIDS and malaria. “The United States, with the sixth largest AIDS epidemic in the world, is unable or unwilling to meets the needs of its citizens living with AIDS. Emergency funding is needed to prevent this situation from further deteriorating,” said Michael Weinstein, AHF's President.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation submitted the Global Fund application and letter of request to Warren Buffett only after efforts to persuade the Obama administration to transfer unspent dollars within the current health budget to end the crisis were repeatedly rebuffed.

“Despite a Congressional increase in funding that is helping, the administration refuses to take the steps necessary to ensure that all who need lifesaving AIDS treatment can get it. Unless remedied, this failure will result in thousands of Americans needlessly becoming sicker, and others potentially being infected with HIV. As the US is now in the same position as many third-world countries that are unable to care for its AIDS population, we have no choice but to seek this help from the Global Fund,” added Weinstein.

As of September 8, there are 9,066 people on the ADAP waiting lists. The total number of people on the lists, dropped, or unable to enroll due to lowered eligibility is now likely at least 9,792. The breakdown:

• 9,066 on waiting lists (as reported by NASTAD September 8, 2011)
• 445 people dropped (also reported by NASTAD as of August 3, 2011)
• 281 people unable to enroll¹ because of lowered eligibility (based on AHF estimates. NOTE: This figure is likely higher because AHF's estimate is based on enrollment figures from FY2009, the most recent full-year data available).

Previous Efforts to Address the Growing AIDS Drug Crisis in the US

Over the past two years, AHF and other advocates have mounted a sustained effort to try to get the Obama administration and Congress to address the growing AIDS drug crisis in the US. Congress has stepped up by adding approximately $48 million to ADAP's FY 2011 budget. Congress has also made repeated efforts to prod the administration to do its part, introducing legislation and sending letters to the administration from legislators.

For its part, AHF sent letters both to President Obama (July 12 2011 AHF letter to WH) and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (June 16 2011 letter to Sebelius) making requests that the administration adequately address the ADAP crisis. The White House responded to AHF's letter (September 7^th WH response letter) and Mary K. Wakefield, PhD, RN, an administration official from HHS, responded to AHF's letter to Secretary Sebelius regarding AHF's concerns about reductions in ADAP program eligibility (August 8 2011 HHS response letter).

In addition, AHF, together with 50 other AIDS groups and hundreds of individual signers, sent a letter to the President and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (June 10, 2011 group letter), asking them to address the ADAP crisis. To date, no answer has been received in response to the June 10^th group letter from AHF and other AIDS organizations and individuals—or has any meaningful action been taken by the White House on the concerns raised in all the letters.

“The current administration has not shown the political will or ability to resolve this crisis. While it has the ability to fully fund ADAP, it has refused to so, despite repeated entreaties of Congress and various AIDS stakeholders and NGOs,” said Tom Myers, General Counsel and Chief of Public Affairs for AIDS Healthcare Foundation in a letter to Warren Buffett requesting that a donation be made directly to ADAP. “In order to resolve this crisis, AHF respectfully requests a contribution to the ADAP program of $50 million. Such a contribution would provide both immediate and long-lasting benefits to the health of tens of thousands of Americans. AHF understands that $50 million is a lot of money, even for you. However, the benefits, to thousands of Americans, are clear. In addition, such a sum represents just 1% of your reported recent $5 billion investment in Bank of America.”

“Sadly, such efforts continue to fall short with this administration,” added AHF's Weinstein. “There were fewer than 100 Americans on ADAP waiting lists in 2008. Today, there are nearly 10,000 and counting. With such indifference to this growing crisis here at home, seeking help from the Global Fund and Warren Buffett seemed like the logical next step.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 182,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org

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¹ This is how AHF calculated the figure of 281 individuals unable to enroll because of lowered eligibility, with a corresponding chart below:

• There are only six states that have lowered eligibility (AR, IL, ND, OH, SC, UT). For each of these states, AHF looked up the number of new enrollees in FY2009 (the most recent data available) who were above the new Federal Poverty Level (FPL) threshold prior to it being lowered.
• AHF then divided this figure by 12 to get a monthly average of enrollees that would be above each state's new FPL threshold.
• AHF then multiplied that monthly average for each state by the number of months that have passed since the FPL threshold was lowered.

Again, because this is based on the FY2009 data the actual number of people unable to enroll because of lowered eligibility is likely higher.