PROJECT INFORM IN OTHER MEDIA ... 2008
Experts say public health legislation
transcends budget politics:
Governor Schwarzenegger should sign AB 1894
to save lives and set
an example to the nation
(mention of Project Inform in bold below)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Today, in response to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's
news that he will likely veto hundreds of bills in the
ongoing budget negotiations, health care experts and
AIDS activists called him to sign AB1894 (Krekorian).
"In the coming days, California will go through an
unprecedented debate where each bill is even more carefully
weighed -- and only a select few will be signed. Governor
Schwarzenegger should sign AB 1894 because HIV/AIDS is
a public health issue that transcends politics," said
Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
AB 1894 (authored by Assembly Member Paul Krekorian)
would improve and modernize the way California diagnoses
and prevents HIV/AIDS. It requires all group and individual
health insurance plans to pay for an HIV test regardless
of whether the testing is related to a primary diagnosis
or the patient is showing symptoms.
The legislation is based on the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) recommendation that everyone in the United
States (aged 13-64) be regularly tested for HIV to help
stop the spread of this disease. Following passage of
last year's AB 682 (Berg), which eliminated the requirement
of written informed consent prior to conducting an HIV
test, AB 1894 is widely viewed as the critical next step
in making routine HIV testing a standard medical practice.
A 2006 study by the South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control found that most people
who progressed to AIDS within a year of their initial
HIV diagnosis had up to five doctor visits within the
previous year.
"If you were one of the 40,000 Californians unknowingly
living with HIV/AIDS — would you want to wait? We have
a public health responsibility to give a voice to the
undiagnosed," said Richard Frankenstein, MD, President
of the California Medical Association. "AB 1894 would
help diagnose the undiagnosed and get them into treatment
earlier — when it's more effective and can reduce suffering
and mortality."
The CDC recently released data showing that the United
States has been under-estimating HIV infections by more
than 40 percent (annually) for the past ten years. It
also confirmed the disproportionate impact HIV/AIDS is
having on minority communities:
- Black men suffer six times, and black women suffer
15 times, the rate of infection as whites.
- In some areas, AIDS is the leading cause of
death among black women aged 25-34.
- Latino males suffer 2.2 times, and Latinas suffer
3.8 times, the rate of infection as whites.
I urge the Governor not to lose sight of this important
opportunity to signal to the rest of the country that
we will not stand in this day and age to have 25% of
Californians living with HIV/AIDS unaware of their infection
or to have 70% of new infections occurring in minority
communities," said Mark Cloutier, CEO of the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "The Governor should sign
AB 1894 because the current system is simply not doing
enough to help hundreds of thousands of individuals know
their status, access treatment, and reduce the risk of
transmission."
"The time to act is now. Every day that we do not
take aggressive action to reach the undiagnosed and try
to prevent new transmissions is another day wasted," said
Dana Van Gorder, Executive Director of Project Inform. "By
signing this landmark piece of legislation, Governor
Schwarzenegger will save lives in the short (and long)
term and send a strong message to the rest of the country
that we can do more to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS."
