No cuts wanted in California AIDS funds
By Bill Hackwell
San Francisco
As the reality of Draconian budget cuts
proposed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger starts to set
in, signs of a grassroots response are already appearing.
Schwarzenegger's budget plan is designed to put the burden of a
$16 billion budget deficit on the backs of workers and the
poor.
The made-for-TV governor is slashing the health and
human-service budgets. Plans include a 10-percent increase in
state university fees, cuts in MediCal and new restrictions on
welfare benefits. Programs designed to meet the needs of the
most vulnerable in society are being cut or eliminated
altogether.
One program on the chopping block is the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program. This program provides HIV medication to
24,000 low-income Californians. If Schwarz enegger gets his
way, a cap on enrollment would prevent 14,400 people from
joining the program and only provide the medication to those
already enrolled.
The excuse is rising drug costs. AIDS medication costs
$10,000 to $15,000 per person per year.
On Jan. 13 it became clear that patients and AIDS/HIV
advocates are not going to take this attack on life-saving
treatment without a fight. Over 300 fired-up protesters filled
the steps of the State Building in San Francisco for a
lunchtime demonstration to say no to the cuts.
Speakers condemned the cuts, likening them to signing death
warrants for people dependent on the medication. The protest
was organized by Women Organized to Respond to Life Threat
ening Diseases and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
LeLani Dowell, an activist with the Inter national ANSWER
coalition who is the Peace & Freedom Party's congressional
candidate for the 8th district, said: "Schwarzenegger has been
living too long in the fiction of his movies, but this is real.
The difference between receiving this medication [and not] is a
life-and-death issue.
"Free and accessible drugs for people living with HIV and
AIDS should be a top priority of any government, especially in
a state as rich as California."
Reprinted from the Feb. 5, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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