On December 6, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act (H.R. 6143) to reauthorize the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act (P.L. 101-381) after adopting a substitute amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). The House approved the substitute amendment by voice vote in the early morning hours of December 9. The House passed the bill on September 28 (see The Source, 9/29/06). The president is expected to sign the bill into law.
The substitute amendment reduces the reauthorization from five years to three years, to FY2009, and ensures that no state’s funding will be reduced to less than 95 percent of what it received in FY2006. The Senate also amended the bill to repeal the CARE Act on October 1, 2009, an action designed to force Congress to write a new law.
The CARE Act was last reauthorized in 2000 (P.L. 106-345). The bill authorizes $604 million for FY2007, $626.3 million for FY2008, and $649.5 million for FY2009 for grants for eligible areas. The legislation defines an “eligible area” as any metropolitan area with 3,000 or more persons living with AIDS.
The measure authorizes emergency relief grants for states at $1.195 billion for FY2007, $1.24 billion for FY2008, and $1.285 billion for FY2009. Early intervention services are authorized at $218.6 million for FY2007, $226.7 million for FY2008, and $235.1 million for FY2009. Grants for coordinated services and access to research for women, infants, children, and youth are authorized at $71.8 million for FY2007-2009.
The bill also authorizes $30 million for FY2007-2009 for the Early Diagnosis Grant Program. The program assists states in providing HIV/AIDS testing and prevention counseling for newborns exposed to the disease and for mothers with HIV/AIDS. It also provides funds for voluntary, universal screening for newborns when the HIV status of the mother is unknown.
The reauthorizion distributes funds to states based on the number of persons living with HIV and AIDS; requires that by April 1, 2008, states begin “accurate and reliable names-based reporting” of persons living with HIV and AIDS for the purposes of determining whether they are an eligible area; allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to make additional grants to areas with demonstrated severe need based on an increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases; and requires that 75 percent of the CARE Act allocation be spent on core medical services, such as drug assistance, early intervention, and oral health services.
The measure also requires the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office to biennially submit a report to Congress describing barriers to HIV program participation, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities, making recommendations for enhancing the continuity of care and building stronger community linkages to address HIV prevention, and delineating how funds are used to help identify HIV-positive pregnant women and their children who are exposed to HIV and connecting them to care that can improve their health and prevent perinatal transmission.
