HIV/AIDS Funding Cuts
Recent clinical technology have made HIV/AIDS a highly treatable disease.
Appropriate medical care can extend the lives of HIV-infected persons and stops unnecessary and probably expensive intricacies. However, not all HIV-infected individuals have sufficient access to medical care. Present economic downturn across the US, budget cuts is not surprising. However, this fact doesn’t diminish the pain of the $85 million budget slash aimed at AIDS programs across California. Hardest hit in the cuts are HIV education and prevention programs, testing and counseling services, home services and early intervention services. The Governor has recognized the difficult decision to cut AIDS programs. Spending on health care breeds economic activity, supports jobs, and produces income as it “ripples” through the economy, and becomes greater than the actual amount spent. This phenomenon is termed by the economists as the “multiplier effect”. Good example is, recent study estimated that $1 million in state spending on social program in California produces about $25,000 in sales taxes that go back to the state and local governments. Contrariwise, when spending on health care is cut, it has a negative economic impact that is even greater than the amount cut. This impact is further infuriated because the additio n of federal funding creates a significant increase in purchasing power. Therefore, when health care spending is cut, the effects [resonate/oscillates/reverberates] throughout the economy.
California’s most vulnerable population has its services on the chopping block again in the latest round of proposed state budget cuts. Needy families counting on welfare and Medi-Cal, children of low-income families, and individuals suffering from HIV or AIDS were all part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s May budget revise reductions. The proposal also includes to stop all general fund contributions to up to 220 state parks, which could include the La Purisima Mission and parks along the Gaviota Coast. The governor’s proposed elimination of the CalWorks program is expected to affect 3,500 families in Sta. Barbra County as reported by Kathy Gallagher, the director of the County Social Services Department. The CalWORKs program provides temporary financial help and employment focused services to families with minor children who have income and property below State maximum limits for their family size. Most able-bodied aided parents are also required to participate in the CalWORKs GAIN employment services program. Adhering to the considered budget cuts would make California the only state and the first world country of civilized nations in the world to not have a catch program for the poor families. Abating the welfare program, which gives cash aid and services to eligible impoverish California families, would placing the load directly on the county, making such idea totally wild.
The planned reduction of the state’s general fund contribution to AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and other AIDS services, including counseling, testing and home-based care, would also result to widespread HIV infections and deaths.Each year in California, an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people become infected. About one in five are unaware that they are infected. California has one of the highest infection rates in the U.S. with more than 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the California Department of Public Health Office of AIDS. The state´s ability to identify people living with HIV AIDS is now severely crippled—creating an enormous impediment to the deterrence of new infections and linking those who need it to treatment. Not only will the Governor´s cold-blooded funding cuts devastate those living with HIV/AIDS who rely on the services the state provides to stay alive and healthy, but today’s cuts also pose a serious threat to our shared responsibility to combat the spread of HIV in California.