San Francisco Newspapers Ask Davis To Sign Bill To Expand Medi-Cal Coverage to HIV-Positive Beneficiaries
Gov. Gray Davis (D) should sign "posthaste" a bill (AB 2197) sponsored by Assembly member Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) that would expand Medi-Cal coverage to HIV-positive beneficiaries who have not received an AIDS diagnosis, according to a San Francisco Examiner editorial. The editorial states that California should not allow Medi-Cal beneficiaries with HIV to "get really sick" before they can receive coverage for treatment, adding, "After all, we don't wait for cancer to completely gut people's organs before we let them start treatment." The editorial states that early HIV treatments "are much cheaper and often so effective that folks can go back to work or continue to work longer, their taxes paying into the system that later can help them and others." The editorial concludes, "Poor Californians who are HIV positive have to fall sick and develop ... AIDS before they can get treatment under Medi-Cal. That's just dumb" (San Francisco Examiner, 9/10).
A San Francisco Chronicle editorial also asks Davis to sign the legislation. Early HIV treatment "serves to hold off the effects of the disease at a savings to the public health system and keeps patients working longer and off the disabled list," the editorial concludes (San Francisco Chronicle, 9/12).
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