Date: Friday, Feb. 16, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: HRSA Press Office, Mark Roebuck, (301) 443-3376

42 CITIES GET PARTIAL GRANTS FOR AIDS CARE

Budget Impasse Prevents Full-Year Appropriation for Ryan White

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $80 million in Ryan White funding for 42 cities, to help provide medical and support services to people living with HIV disease and AIDS. The 42 metropolitan areas receiving the grants are in 19 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

However, because of the failure of Congress to provide a full-year appropriation for the Ryan White program, the cities are presently receiving only about half the amount to which they would normally be entitled under the Act.

"We're pleased to announce the release of CARE Act funds to these 42 cities in need," said President Clinton. "Nonetheless, a program that provides such a lifeline of support cannot survive on partial funding. Over the years, the CARE Act has enjoyed bipartisan support and I urge this Congress to approve a full-year appropriation and allow people living with HIV and AIDS the dignity they deserve."

The funding, which is authorized under Title I of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, helps to provide care to uninsured and underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS. Under the Clinton Administration, funding for the Ryan White CARE Act has increased by 89 percent. Under the Continuing Resolutions passed by Congress, most HHS programs, including the Ryan White Act, are funded only until March 15.

"Ryan White funds are a vital means of support for urban areas affected by the AIDS epidemic," Secretary Shalala said. "The mayors of these cities, the facilities that receive these funds, and the people living with HIV and AIDS, all deserve full funding. These partial grants are one more sad consequence of Congress' budget failure this year."

Twenty-three of the eligible metropolitan areas (EMAs) funded with these grants had reached the end of their budget periods in late 1995 and had received $7.3 million in partial awards at that time.

The remaining 19 EMAs are now receiving their first funds for fiscal year 1996.

Eligibility for Title I grants is determined under a formula requiring a minimum of 2,000 reported cases of AIDS or a per capita rate of at least 25 cases per 100,000 population as of March 31 of the year preceding the original award. The 42 EMAs receiving awards had reported a cumulative total of 350,170 AIDS cases by March 31, 1995, representing 75.9 percent of all U.S. cases reported since 1981.

As the AIDS epidemic has spread across the country, the number of EMAs receiving Title I funds has grown from 16 in FY 1991, the first year of the CARE Act, to 42 in FY 1995. Since FY 1991, more than $1 billion has been awarded in formula and supplemental Ryan White grants.

The partial grant awards, and those made in December 1995, are listed below.