Newspaper Page Text
Aids Focus BBBH
Koop Supports Waxman Bill for
Early HIV Treatment Access
Dannemeyer pushes for mandatory testing and contact tracing
by Cliff O'Neill
Washington—Former Surgeon General C.
Everett Koop has joined Rep. Henry A.
Waxman (D-Calif.) in calling on Congress to
ensure that HIV infected individuals receive
early and convenient access to medical treat
ment
Koop's impassioned testimony was in sup
port of Waxman's Medicaid AIDS and HIV
Amendments of 1990 (H.R. 4080), a compre
hensive AIDS care package that would,
among other things, allow asymptomatic,
HIV positive individuals to qualify for
Medicaid disability benefits before they actu
ally develop AIDS symptoms. It would also
grant federal matching funds to states imple
menting insurance assistance programs for
people with AIDS.
Koop stressed that with AIDS rapidly
becoming a disease of the impoverished, most
of whom have little or no access to private
health care, many HIV infected individuals
often go without treatment. And without that
access combined with the looming threat of
AIDS discrimination, he added there is little
hope these people will seek testing for HIV
antibodies.
"When a patient feels there is sufficient
reward to take the risk of getting tested, they
will," Koop added. "If they do not, they will
not"
Noting that many asymptomatic, HIV
positive individuals find themselves in the
"crazy Catch-22" of not qualifying for AIDS-
preventative medical assistance until they
actually become sick, Waxman asked Koop if
he supported allowing HIV-positive individu
als to qualify for Medicaid disability pay
ments before they develop AIDS symptoms.
When Koop replied that in affirmative,
Rep. Howard C. Nielson (R-Utah) argued that
such a policy would create a Medicaid prece
dent not allowed in the case of other diseases.
"There is a great risk it will do just that,"
Koop retorted adding that AIDS is "a unique
situation" which, unlike cancer and heart dis
ease, can be postponed by administering cer
tain drugs.
Painting a particularly bleak picture of the
AIDS epidemic, Koop told of a shortage of
physicians going to the AIDS centers of the
nation, a scarcity of hospital beds in certain
high-incidence cities and a pervasive fear of
patients by hospital workers. (See accompa
nying story on the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS dis
aster plan!)
Earlier Waxman had chided the Bush
Administration for the limited increase in its
fiscal '91 AIDS funding.
"Because of the years of misplaced moral
izing about sex and chugs," Waxman stated,
"government has missed its opportunity to
slow the spread of the virus. Now with the
weight of the inevitable case load crashing
down on our hospitals and our public assis
tance programs....the sins of the Reagan pre
vention policy around AIDS are going to
have to be paid by the Bush payment plan."
As he has done in virtually every AIDS
hearing of the subcommittee, Rep. William
Dannemeyer (R-Calif)—absent for virtually
all of Koop's testimony—took the opportuni
ty to again call for the U.S. government to
treat AIDS as a public health issue and not a
civil rights issue."
While professing support for AIDS and
HIV patients being afforded early access to
drugs with federal tax dollars, Dannemeyer
also insisted that the federal government
should make those funds contingent on states
ordering mandatory testing, name reporting
and contact tracing of HIV carriers. The
California congressman also pressed
Waxman for committee consideration of his
AIDS bill (H.R. 3102) which would order
such efforts.
Interrupting Koop no fewer than four
times in loud and angry tones, Dannemeyer
reiterated his view that AIDS, "an incurable
venereal disease," be treated in the same
manner as "curable venereal diseases."
"I think it's the term 'curable' on which that
hangs," the visibly irritated Koop responded,
adding that mandatory testing, name report
ing and contact tracing for syphilis were insti
tuted 10 years after a cure was found.
"I don't know what history books you've
been reading," barked Dannemeyer.
Waxman reminded Dannemeyer that ,
even with laws mandating contact tracing and
name reporting of carriers of sexually trans
mitted diseases, syphilis and gonorrhea rates
have not abated.
"If this is a panacea for the problem,"
Waxman quipped, "it makes you wonder why
we're now having the highest rates of syphilis
in years."
Evett Bennett
Masquerade ’90 Grosses $10,000
Charlie Brown was crowned King and Deana Collins Queen of Masquerade '90, a
fundraiser for Project Open Hand Atlanta. More than 325 people attended the
affair which, it is hoped, will become an annual event.
A
NSWER THE LAVENDER
QUESTION
"Unmarried Partner?"
• Beginning the last week of March, the Census Bureau will dis
tribute its decennial questionnaire to every household in the
country. For the first time ever, the U.S. Census is asking a
question that directly affects many lesbian and gay couples.
• The relationship section of the questionnaire includes the
category "Unmarried Partner." Census officials say that
means "someone who shares the household because they
have a close personal relationship." .
• Don't disappear — if you're a lesbian or gay couple living
together, check off the unmarried partner category. Let's
make our relationships count in the 1990 Census.
NGUF
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
1517 U St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 332-6483
In your opinion, who has
done the most to help
lesbians and gay men in
Georgia? To hurt?
FIND OUT...
What most Southern Voice readers
think when we publish the results of the
Southern Voice Survey.
Watch for the survey - March 27.
18!Southern Voice • March 15,1990