The state has eliminated a waiting list for a program that provides lifesaving medications to thousands of low-income, uninsured Georgians with HIV/AIDS more than two years after the list was first started.
Established in July 2010, the wait list for Georgia's AIDS Drug Assistance Program rapidly ballooned to more than 1,600 — at one time becoming the largest in the country.
A spike in the need for the program was largely fueled by the economic downturn as people lost their jobs and health insurance. Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Public Health ramped up efforts to get more people tested.
"The reduction of our wait list to zero is a remarkable accomplishment, especially considering where we were in 2011," Public Health Commissioner Brenda Fitzgerald said in a statement Friday.
The state was able to erase the wait list in part with the help of $8.4 million in federal emergency funding. More than 350 patients previously enrolled in the program also moved to an insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions established under the federal health care law — freeing up more spots in the drug program.
"Eliminating the waiting list required extraordinary work and ingenuity, said Patrick O'Neal, the director of health protection for the state Department of Public Health.
Virginia currently has the largest waiting list with 275 people, according to a report last week from the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors.
State health leaders and the federal government, which gave states tens of millions of dollars of emergency funding, should be recognized for their efforts, said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.
Still, Graham worries that if federal lawmakers institute massive budget cuts, it could cause the drug program to lose critical funding and the wait list to return. Graham said he has seen three waiting lists come and go since he moved to Georgia more than two decades ago.
"I really hope it doesn't come back a fourth time," he said.
The story so far
In July 2010, the state of Georgia established a wait list for its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides critical medications to low-income, uninsured Georgians with HIV/AIDS. The need for the program spiked as more people lost their jobs and insurance during the recession, and the state urged more people to get tested. Since then, Georgia Department of Community Health officials have worked to eliminate the list with the help of millions of dollars in federal emergency funding. They also helped hundreds of people previously enrolled in the drug program move to a pre-existing condition insurance program, opening up more spaces for those waiting.
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