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Share information and ask other members questions about all issues surrounding Hepatits C--nutrition, side effects, exercise and latest treatments.
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| Ryan White Overview and Introduction |
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The National HIV/HCV Coinfection Coalition has dedicated the last two
years to educating Members of Congress and their staffers about Hepatitis
C and HIV coinfection, in an effort to persuade them to include Hepatitis
C-specific amendments to the Ryan White CARE Act when it is reauthorized.
As many of you may already know, the Ryan White CARE Act expired on
September 30th 2005. The White House released its guidelines for
reauthorization at the end of July
(http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=31677),
but as yet there is no bill from either the House or the Senate. In
response to the recently released White House guidelines for the
reauthorization of Ryan White, Jules Levin, Chair of the National HIV/HCV
Coinfection Coalition commented, ÒWhile the Coalition applauds the
Administration for reasserting its commitment to establish guidelines for
Core Medical Services and to increase coordination of service delivery at
the state and local levels it is important that the Administration and
Congress continue to search for ways to address the evolving needs for
people living with HIV. We believe that President Bush's modernization of
the guidelines can help to enable a more equitable response to the
hitherto unmet needs of Hepatitis C coinfected patients served by the Ryan
White CARE Act."
Coalition members have visited Capitol Hill three times this year
(summaries available on this site) presenting and discussing the language
approved by our Steering Committee in 2004. While several HIV/AIDS
advocacy groups are lobbying on the issue of Ryan White reauthorization,
the National Coalition is the only one urging Congress to address
Hepatitis C and HIV Coinfection in this manner. The struggle is not over
yet! We are preparing another round of meetings for November or December
2005, if you are available to come or live in or around the DC area we
invite you to attend. Contact Michaela@natap.org for more information.
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