RYAN WHITE CARE ACT: GAO Unravels San Francisco’s Funding in Letter
Responding to a request by Rep. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), vice chair of the House Commerce subcommittee on health and environment, the General Accounting Office addressed in an Aug. 24 letter several issues surrounding San Francisco's share of Ryan White CARE Act funding. The agency found that if both living and deceased AIDS cases were used to determine funding instead of the current hold-harmless provision, the city's CARE Act allocation would decrease by 26%, which mirrors the funding decrease mandated by HR 4807, a bill sponsored by Coburn that would reduce the hold-harmless level by 25% over five years. According to the GAO, San Francisco received $2,360 per AIDS case -- 80% more than other eligible metropolitan areas. As a result, the city garnered 6.7% of all Title I CARE Act funding, although it reported only 3.8% of all living AIDS cases. The GAO study, conducted this month, relied on CDC data and computer models designed to calculate different funding schemes (GAO letter, 8/24).
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