More Than 200 People Are on South Carolina’s ADAP Waiting List

There are more than 200 South Carolina residents on the waiting list of the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program -- a federal- and state-funded program that provides HIV/AIDS-related medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured HIV-positive individuals -- WLTX-TV 19 reports (WLTX-TV 19, 11/3). There are about 1,800 HIV-positive people enrolled in South Carolina's ADAP. Sixty-seven percent of the clients are black, and 85% have incomes lower than 200% of the federal poverty level, which is about $19,000 annually, according to the Title II Community AIDS National Network (TII CANN release, 11/4). The state's waiting list is the longest in the country. Indiana has the next longest waiting list, with 33 people, according to the National Alliance for State and Territorial AIDS Directors. Carmen Julious, director of Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services, said South Carolina's ADAP would need $3 million to move everyone from the waiting list by June 2007 and an additional $8 million by 2008. "It's very telling that we didn't have a waiting list at this time last year," Julious said. "Because of cuts in funding and because of budget decisions we had to make, we, all of a sudden, have one of the largest waiting lists in the country," she said, adding, "This is a crisis. People are dying. We have medications available, ... but these folks who need this medication have no access" (WLTX-TV 19, 11/3). According to TII CANN, three people living with HIV/AIDS have died while on the ADAP waiting list in South Carolina (TII CANN release, 11.4). The office of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) said it would not make budget recommendations until January 2007 (WLTX-TV 19, 11/3).