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Report: Medicaid soon may cover early AIDS treatments
June 1, 1997
Web posted at: 2:15 p.m. EDT (1415 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new government proposal to expand Medicaid would make it easier for low-income HIV-positive patients to receive federal assistance before they develop full-blown AIDS, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Clinton administration officials told the newspaper that they will present the proposal to Congress soon. The initiative would free the government to pay for potent, costly drugs that block the development of AIDS.
Under current federal rules, if patients develop the deadly disease and become disabled, they can qualify for Medicaid. But patients typically are unable to obtain the new drugs, including protease inhibitors, until they become severely ill with AIDS or related ailments.
The new drugs cost from $8,000 to $16,000 a year.
Researchers recommend the use of such drugs soon after a person has been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In clinical tests over the past 1 1/2 years, the drugs have proved widely successful in halting the development of AIDS.
Slowing spread of HIV
Allowing Medicaid to cover the cost of the drugs, the Times reported, could save the government money by reducing the spread of the virus and the need for hospital care.
"We believe that a person who's being treated is less infectious, and therefore less likely to transmit the virus than a person who is not being treated," Victor Zonana, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told the Times.
According to the newspaper, a summary of the department's initiative said it will "assess whether eligibility for Medicaid in the earlier stages of HIV infection is effective in reducing Medicaid costs of care."
White House and federal health officials were quoted as saying they would not ask Congress to change the current Medicaid law, but would expand coverage by using authority they already have to conduct and approve state demonstration projects.
About half of the 217,000 Americans with AIDS will be on Medicaid at some time, but many low-income patients have been denied coverage because they are not sick enough to meet the official test of disability, the Times said.
The Social Security Administration uses a strict definition of disability that states a person must be "unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity." Gaining disability benefits usually leads to Medicaid coverage as well, the Times said.
Related story:
- Clinton's challenge: Find AIDS vaccine by 2007 - May 18, 1997
Related sites:
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- Medicaid information
- from the Health Care Financing Administration
- Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention - Centers for Disease Control
- Social Security Administration
- AIDS Research Information Center
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