Whatever happened to ETHA?

[gerry]

One of the posts here reminded me about the Early Treatment of HIV act which is still languishing in limbo in both the Senate and Congress.  I think this was first introduced in Congress in 2003 and pretty much died there.

The senate version for 2007 (S860 - link) was introduced on March 13, 2007 and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance and the house version for 2007 (HR3326 - link) was reintroduced on August 2, 2007 and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Finance.

POZ had an article about it when it was reintroduced in Congress: http://www.poz.com/articles/early_hiv_etha_1_12690.shtml

The Treatment Access Expansion Project (TAEP) has been at the forefront of this since prior to its first introduction in Congress.  Here's their fact sheet: http://www.napwa.org/AidsWatch/pdf/2007/ETHAFactSheet.pdf

The American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM) supports this: http://www.aahivm.org/images/stories/pdfs/remarks_hoffmanterry_etha_intro0807.pdf

This is an older publication surrounding this bill when it was initially introduced that has more details: http://www.aidsaction.org/communications/publications/ETHA_facts.pdf

I wonder what it would take to get this moving again?

[Iggy]

Gerry,

I didn't know of this issue, but am willing to lend my support if someone wants to spearhead this.  I'm a little bogged down (and well behind as Emeraldize will attest ) on the travel ban project so I can't offer to take any sort of lead in this, but I do welcome the chance to work on it in some capacity.

[gerry]

Iggy:

After reading further, I'm not too hopeful about this at this point.  It has actually been introduced to the Congress and Senate since 1999.  There was one version of it I recall that we tried to do an e-mail campaign to no avail.  It will probably have the same fate as its previous versions, I'm afraid.  It would probably also take more than just an e-mail/letter campaign to give this a chance.

Gerry

[allopathicholistic]

Hi Gerry. This PDF highlights the Republican `08 hopefuls who oppose or are undecided on ETHA: Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, McCain, Romney, Tancredo, Thompson

and the Democrat hopefuls who have at least some knowledge about ETHA: Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson

ETHA is looked at elsewhere several times in this PDF among other HIV/AIDS national issues.
http://www.gmhc.org/policy/federal/pres_report.pdf

I have to smile at these names: Etha, Enda. They sound like avant garde baby names straight out of Berkeley

[gerry]

Thanks Alex.  I have read that report and it is very telling.  However, I think ETHA will likely take a back seat in terms of the overall health care reform landscape that will await realization after the new president gets elected.  There were 2 identical comprehensive health care reform bills introduced this year in Senate and Congress (Health Americans Act S334 & HR3163) that have remained largely unnoticed.  We are entering the 3rd year of the Medicare Modernization Act and the huge cost and mess it is generating (which many folks warned about) is now showing.  So whoever wins the presidential race better have some real plans on how to deal with these issues.

Incidentally, I recently watched this older September 07 video from Iowa Public TV http://www.iptv.org/video/detail.cfm/634 that focused on health care from democratic candidates (Obama wasn't there, though) and it gives a good idea of what the candidates' positions are.