Original link: https://shinekid.com/2022/09/ryan-white-care-act/

Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, also known as the Ryan White CARE Act The Public Health Service Act Amendment Act to Provide Funding for Quality and Availability and Other Purposes, ” is a U.S. Congressional piece of legislation that is the largest federal funding program to date for people with AIDS and people living with HIV. In exchange for US states adopting tough criminal laws to regulate the behavior of HIV-positive individuals and provide for public felony prosecutions, the bill would provide states with federal funding through emergency grants to make chemicals available to the low-income, uninsured, or underinsured. The drug zidovudine is used for treatment. The bill was named in honor of an Indiana teenager, Ryan White , who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. Ryan was expelled from his school in 1984 when he was 13 when he was diagnosed with AIDS. He then became a well-known advocate for AIDS research and advocacy until his death in 1990 at the age of 18. Since its promulgation, the Act has undergone four revisions and reauthorizations in 1996, 2000, 2006 and 2009.

The Ryan White Project is a “Payer of Last Resort” that uses funds for treatment when the grantee has no other resources available. Funding for the program has increased every year since the initial grant in 1991, as HIV infection rates have risen. According to official data, from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2019, the annual funding for the project was roughly $2.31 billion; however, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the funding for fiscal year 2020 increased to $2.38 billion , and increased to $2.42 billion in fiscal 2021. The program provides some level of care to 500,000 patients annually and also provides technical support and training services to state and local primary care, support services, and health care facilities.

As recently as 2005, the federal government provided approximately $2.1 billion in grants for the Ryan White Project under this Act. According to a 2005 official report, about one-third of that funding went to the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP), which provides medicines to 30 percent of people living with HIV in the United States. [6] The main drugs provided by the AIDS Drug Assistance Program are prescription drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The Ryan White Health Care Act allows first responders to confirm whether they are exposed to a life-threatening illness before providing care. This provision was included in the original Act enacted in 1990, but was removed in the 2006 reauthorization. However, this provision was reinstated when it was reauthorized in 2009.

Reauthorized in 2006

The Ryan White Health Care Act was originally planned to be reauthorized at the end of 2005, but because the US Congress failed to agree on a change to the provisions, the bill extended the validity of the law by one year by retaining the old provisions.

In 2006, the Act was reauthorized for a three-year term that expired on September 30, 2009; during this period, the Act’s appropriation level was increased to $2.1 billion. Before the reauthorization, the bill allocated funds proportionally to the number of people living with AIDS in each region. And after reauthorization in 2006, the allocation scheme also takes into account people living with HIV who have not yet been clinically diagnosed with AIDS. At the same time, a large part of the funding involved in the bill is for emergency relief for Eligible Metropolitan Areas. After being reauthorized in 2006, the bill revised the definition of a qualifying metro area to be a city with a population of more than 50,000, rather than the previous threshold of 500,000.

Reauthorized in 2007

In 2009, Congress passed the Ryan White AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009; then-President Barack Obama signed the Act on October 30, 2009. The bill extends the Ryan Wynn Health Care Act for another four years.

2013 bill expires

As of 2013, the Ryan White Health Care Act has expired; however, as Congressional appropriations continue, the Ryan White program is still in existence.

National major special projects

Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) is a program developed by the U.S. Department of Health to “provide health care and hygiene support to a population of people who have been diagnosed with HIV and who are underresourced. knowledge and skills in service”. The program began in 1991 with several federal grants; it now has a portfolio of 72 grants to address AIDS care.

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