Early Medicaid treatment: bipartisan bill in senate with 32 cosponsors, could cut HIV deaths on Medicaid in half.On February 8, 2005, Senators Gordon Smith
Gordon Harold Smith (born May 25, 1952) is Oregon's junior United States Senator, currently serving his second term. He is a member of the Republican Party. , Hillary Clinton, and 30 other cosponsors introduced the Early Treatment for HIV Act The Early Treatment for HIV Act (or ETHA) (S. 860 is a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 13, 2007. Sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 30 cosponsors, the bill is currently in committee. (S. 311, known as ETHA ETHA Early Treatment for HIV Act ETHA East Texas Historical Association ETHA Erythermalgia ETHA Erythromelalgia ). This bill would let states choose to pay for early HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. treatment under Medicaid, instead of waiting until people become disabled due to advanced illness. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers projected that over 10 years, early treatment would reduce deaths of persons with HIV on Medicaid by 50%, and more than pay for the cost of care by reducing hospitalization and other expenses of serious illness later. Another benefit is that person on antiretroviral treatment become less infectious due to a lower viral load viral load n. The concentration of a virus, such as HIV, in the blood. viral load, n a measure of the number of virus particles present in the bloodstream, expressed as copies per milliliter. , reducing transmission to others. The bill expands existing provisions for breast cancer to also include HIV. Under the existing Federal law, early treatment for breast cancer has been implemented by 49 states. For more information, including a link to the PricewaterhouseCooper study, see an article by Housing Works, http://www.hwadvocacy.com/update/archives/2005/ 02/early_treatment_1.html |
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