Legislation means a shot at HIV care for everyone

The Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) would give states the option to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income people with an HIV diagnosis who have not yet become disabled by AIDS.

If passed, ETHA could get HIV care to hundreds of thousands of Americans and cut the U.S. AIDS death rate by two-thirds — and it's a real possibility for passage in the current Congress.

Details on ETHA

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) will soon introduce ETHA in the House of Representatives. The Senate version of the bill (S.860) was recently introduced by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

ETHA addresses a cruel flaw in the current Medicaid system, which requires an individual to be disabled by an AIDS diagnosis before they can receive access to the care and treatment that could have prevented their HIV disease from progressing to AIDS.

This legislation would provide low-income people with early access to HIV care and treatment, thus helping to reduce the death rate for people with HIV on Medicaid and help relieve the financial burden on other programs, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

Personal letter Personal thank you ETHA Senate Cosponsor Action Alert Dear Colleague letter

ETHA fact sheet The ETHA bill ETHA analysis

C2EA is partnering with the Treatment Access Expansion Project in the effort to win ETHA passage. Click here for TAEP's info on ETHA. And there's more on the positive impact of early treatment for HIV here.

The Library of Congress provides full bill text, cosponsors and status information through THOMAS: S. 860.