MORRISTOWN — More than 950 people with AIDS will remain eligible for a program that pays for their complex and costly battery of medications, Gov. Chris Christie announced today. The Christie administration is counting on higher rebates from pharmaceutical companies and federal aid totaling $5 million to cover the $7.9 million in state funding the governor took from the...
N.J. Senators Loretta Weinberg (Bergen) and Joseph Vitale (Middlesex).MORRISTOWN — More than 950 people with AIDS will remain eligible for a program that pays for their complex and costly battery of medications, Gov. Chris Christie announced today.
The Christie administration is counting on higher rebates from pharmaceutical companies and federal aid totaling $5 million to cover the $7.9 million in state funding the governor took from the program to help balance the budget.
Health and Senior Services Commissioner Dr. Poonam Alaigh, in a statement released this afternoon, explained New Jersey will receive approximately $5 million in rebates recently negotiated from pharmaceutical companies.
Together with additional federal funding, the health department will transfer people no longer eligible for the program under the new eligibility guidelines into a new program called the Temporary AIDS Supplemental Rebate and Federal Assistance Program.
"New pharmaceutical rebates and federal funds made available after July 1 enabled us to create this new benefit program to ensure that individuals continue to receive these critical medications," Alaigh said. The transfer from the old program to the new “will be virtually seamless,'' she added.
The cut would have meant 957 people with HIV and AIDS who were eligible for the AIDS Drug Distribution Program would have been dropped Aug. 1 because their earnings exceeded the new eligibility guidelines of $32,490, instead of the current threshold of $54,150.
Democratic Senators Loretta Weinberg of Bergen County and Joseph Vitale of Middlesex County have asked the governor to consider other sources of revenue instead of limiting the programs.
Christie criticized Vitale for "playing politics" by issuing a public statement on the matter yesterday rather than calling the governor directly. "I've been working on this for a while with the pharmaceutical industry," he said. "And if Senator Vitale would have had the courtesy to pick up the phone and call, I would have been able to save the paper he wrote that letter on.''
Previous Coverage:
• Sen. Joseph Vitale urges reversal of budget cut to low-income AIDS program
• N.J. budget cuts free AIDS medication for 950 HIV-positive patients
• N.J. Dems to ask Gov. Christie to restore $400M in funding for AIDS patients, students