Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) offered up an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget to expand access to critical medical services for low-income people living with HIV. Their amendment is based off their Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA), which would allow for states to extend Medicaid coverage for low-income positive people. Smith believes that that America needs to focus more on providing early HIV treatment and Clinton hopes to introduce this bill to other states in order to eradicate AIDS meds waitlists.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
