January 30, 2009

Nebraska Implements ADAP Waiting List

Nebraska is among the latest states to implement an AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting list, The Grand Island Independent reports. The Nebraska list includes about a dozen people without private health insurance.

This resulted, in part, because of a decrease in federal HIV/AIDS health care funds provided by the Ryan White Program and an increase in the number of people living with the virus.

“Right now there is a waiting list; it affects the whole state,” said Erin Cantrell, a case manager with the Kearney office of the Nebraska AIDS Project. “It will be a few more months before we get funding.”

According to the article, patient advocates in the state are urging Congress to increase Ryan White funding, which is up for reauthorization this year.

“We understand that this is a horrible time to ask for more money for anything, but these drugs are a cost-effective investment,” said Susan Swindells, MD, medical director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center HIV Clinic. “They help keep people with HIV/AIDS healthy and productive, and this decreases the burden on the health care infrastructure as a whole.”

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