A spokesman for Bush did not return a call seeking comment on the UC San Francisco report. At issue is how many patients are getting expensive but effective protease inhibitors, drugs that began revolutionizing AIDS care when the first one hit the market in late December 1995. Researchers examined the programs in Texas, California, Florida and New York, inquiring how many patients with HIV and AIDS had the proper prescriptions filled based on federal treatment guidelines. Early findings in New York suggest just over half the patients were getting proper treatment. The report found that just over half the Texans in ADAP received proper drugs.
Researchers point to a number of state policies for the low rates.
In Texas and Florida, barriers to treatment included, for Medicaid, limiting patients to three prescriptions per month, when most AIDS patients require more than that. In Texas, there was also trouble getting people in rural areas access to AIDS specialists. The state system also required central processing of prescriptions, meaning there were significant delays in getting the drugs. Those are decisions made at the state level.