TRENTON — Nearly 1,000 people with HIV and AIDS would have their subsidized prescription drug benefits restored that Gov. Chris Christie reduced last summer under a bill the Assembly approved today. The bill passed the Assembly 47 to 31 today. The Senate approved the measure in November. Christie's signature is needed to make it law, but like many budgetary...
TRENTON — Nearly 1,000 people with HIV and AIDS would have their subsidized prescription drug benefits restored that Gov. Chris Christie reduced last summer under a bill the Assembly approved today.
The bill passed the Assembly 47 to 31 today. The Senate approved the measure in November. Christie's signature is needed to make it law, but like many budgetary bills the legislature approved today, that's a long shot.
The budget signed by the governor last June reduced the eligibility for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program for people earning five times the federal poverty level to people earning three times the poverty level. That means a patient would not be eligible for the program if he or she earned more than $32,490 a year under the new eligibility guidelines, compared to the $55,150 salary under the old guidelines.
The bill, A3286, restores the higher income eligibility level retroactively back to July 1, 2010, benefiting about 960 people.
“This program means life or death for many people,” said Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex). “Spending cuts are needed, but we cannot be inhumane in the decisions we make when lives are on the line. We also shouldn’t be making decisions that lead to higher medical costs when AIDS patients who lose their drugs grow sicker and require more expensive treatments.”
The state spent $8.7 million in 2009 on medications for patients who earned between three and five times the poverty rate, according to an analysis of the bill by the Office of Legislative Services.