Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 Passes
Ensures Life Saving Services for Thousands Living with HIV/AIDS

WASHINGTON, October 21, 2009 – The House today passed S.1793, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009.  The Senate passed an identical bill on Monday so the completed bill is ready to be sent to the President for his signature.  The Senate and House worked together to create the bill in a bipartisan manner, helping to ensure the continuing stability of the Ryan White CARE Act which is the largest program solely dedicated to providing treatment and care to people living with HIV/AIDS.  AIDS Action supports the bill as passed by the House and Senate and urges President Obama to sign the bill prior to October 31st, the date on which the current version of the CARE Act would “sunset.”

AIDS Action Council congratulates the House Energy and Commerce and the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committees for working quickly to reauthorize the CARE Act for four years.  The Act specifically highlights the growing need for CARE Act services by calling for a 5% increase in authorization levels for all Parts of the Act.  It eliminates the sunset provision and creates new incentives to find new cases of HIV infection and link people living with HIV/AIDS to care.  The program is critical to the health and well being of over 500,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in the United States who receive medical treatment, antiretroviral drugs and drugs for opportunistic infections, and support services critical to maintaining them in care. It also funds education and training of HIV/AIDS service providers around the country.

“The House and Senate leadership and the Members of the committees worked closely with the HIV/AIDS community to maintain this critical program,” said Rebecca Haag, AIDS Action Council’s Executive Director.  She continued, “This bill will ensure the availability of life saving services for those living with HIV/AIDS in all states and territories while we determine the long term impact of health care reform legislation and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy on the health and well being of those infected, affected and at risk for HIV.”

“We call on President Obama to sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS continue to have access to the HIV/AIDS treatment, care and medications that they need,” said Haag.

William McColl, Political Director at AIDS Action added “We owe special thanks to the leadership of the Senate and House and to Senators Harkin and Enzi and Representatives Waxman, Barton, Pallone and Deal and all of the members of the Senate HELP and House Energy and Commerce committee.  This bipartisan bill could not have been accomplished without their good faith commitment and the ability of the leadership to overcome partisan differences.  We also take this opportunity to remember Senator Kennedy who was the lead co-sponsor of the first authorization of the CARE Act in 1990 and firmly guided the current process of reauthorization until his recent death.  Passage of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 is a testament to his concern for people living with HIV/AIDS and his legacy of working across party lines.”