In March, Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (NY), with Republican Senator Gordon Smith (OR), reintroduced the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA). The bill was first launched in 1999 by current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), but it failed to pass the then Republican-controlled Congress. A majority of states require that an HIV-positive person be sick enough to qualify for disability, usually meaning AIDS, before getting Medicaid. ETHA would get low-income positive people benefits from the day of diagnosis, relieving underfunded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP). The bill was under consideration as POZ went to press. “We are cautiously optimistic,” says Robert Greenwald, director of the Treatment Access Expansion Project. “Everybody recognizes it’s cruel to have a Medicaid policy denying access to treatment that can prevent you from getting sick.”