Cure for AIDS Act 2012 - Assignment Example

?Legislation: H.R. 6187: Cure for AIDS Act “To extend lives and stem transmission, we need to make sure every HIV-positive American gets the medical care that they need.” President Obama, July 13, 2010 Summary/ Overview of the bill: The Cure for AIDS Act, 2012 was introduced in the House of Parliament by the Democrats - Jim Himes and Barbara Lee; with the key objective to help fund AIDS research and development of a cure for the dreaded disease. In order to encourage research and development of an AIDS cure the bill proposes to establish a $100 million program under which studies and research directly aimed at discovering a cure for HIV / AIDS would be funded. The bill would allow for provision of $20 million annually over a period of next five years. This program would be managed and supervised by the Department of Defense as a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. This department would work in close association with other researchers and academic scholars as well as non-profit organizations, thus creating a syndicate of esteemed members of the society including scientists, researchers and advocates to assess, evaluate, and review the cure proposals (Himes House.gov). Federally funded research have consistently proven to be highly beneficial to the communities in the U.S. as well as worldwide, by introducing revolutionary health-care reforms and safeguarding the health and well-being of the people from chronic illnesses (Wolper, 2004; Guttmacher et al., 2010; Shamoo & Resnik, 2009). According to Jim Himes "After slow but important progress in the face of a deadly and terrible disease, a cure is finally within reach" (Himes.House.gov, 2012). This bill proposes to further the cause by providing the medical research community with the much needed boost in the form of federal funding and needed resources to finally put an end to this worldwide epidemic and usher in a new AIDS-free world. Significance HIV/ AIDS - is a progressive disease which worsens over time. Individuals affected by it face a serious threat to their health and well-being in the absence of a timely and effective treatment. Currently there is no permanent cure for the disease and continuous efforts in the form of research are on, towards ending this epidemic. The fight against AIDS has largely focused on the key issue of providing the life-saving antiretroviral treatment to an estimated 1.7 million Americans (AIDS.gov, 2012a) and 34 million people worldwide (WHO, 2012), and who are living with the chronic disease. Federal investments aimed at supporting research and development for finding a permanent cure for the disease would significantly help human civilization in their fight against the epidemic. The fight against this remarkably persistent virus was initially hampered by the belief that it is incurable and the only way to pause its rapid growth is through strict implementation of prevention measures. However the recent evidence has provided renewed hope to the scientists and researchers across the globe, to address this insurmountable challenge. This hope was renewed by Timothy Ray Brown, an American national living in Berlin, who was completely cured of AIDS in the year 2007 (CNN, 2012) thus becoming the first patient in the world and the history of the disease to reaffirm a confirmed known cure for the disease. The words of Jeffrey Laurence – an AIDS researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York “One person has been cured, and we’re going to find a practical way to do it in others” echoes the sentiments of researchers across the globe, to find a permanent cure for the epidemic and prevent loss of millions of lives worldwide (The Wall Street Journal, 2012). Finding a cure for AIDS has become one of the most realistic goals of researchers, activist groups, and policy makers in recent times, especially against the backdrop of growing evidence confirming a high possibility to end the 31 year old global epidemic. The relentless pursuit to usher in an AIDS free generation could finally become achievable. The passing of this bill would provide the scientists and researchers with the necessary funding to accomplish their goals and help prevent the deaths of 1.7 million caused by the epidemic every year (WHO, 2012). Although the obstacles towards the successful achievement of this highly ambitious goal are daunting and the costs are relatively higher, the investments in an AIDS research program would prove to be highly beneficial in the long run and help prevent billions of dollars spent in treatment and prevention of the disease and significantly reduce the overall healthcare spending. Furthermore it would ensure a healthier and safer living environment for millions of people globally. The successful implementation of this bill is hence in the best interests of Americans as well as of the people in rest of the world. Costs: According to the available statistics approximately 34,000,000 people are known to be living with HIV/ AIDS worldwide of which 1,200,000 are Americans. The epidemic is spreading rapidly in the country affecting 1 American every 9.5 minutes. The total federal government spending on treatment and cure for HIV/AIDS for the fiscal year 2012 amounted to $27,700,000,000 of which $15,600,000,000 was spent on providing treatment services to people living with HIV/ AIDS. The average cost of HIV treatment per person in the United States is estimated to be $367,134 (Govtrack.us, 2012). The costs of new diagnoses annually were estimated to be between the range of $1900 to $10,000 during the year 2010 (CDC.gov, 2012a). The average annual cost of treatment of HIV was estimated to be $19,912 and the lifetime cost of treatment was estimated to be $379,668 in the same year (CDC.gov, 2012a). The costs were observed to be highest among patients in the advanced stages of the disease since the costs vary according to the risk group. Since AIDS is known to disparately affect the minority sections of the population with African Americans and Hispanics being the most affected (CDC.gov, 2012b), it is likely to take a toll on their income and spending patterns. Furthermore the access to healthcare and insurance is largely dependent on employment thus marginalizing the highly vulnerable population group and depriving them of the required healthcare services. Currently less than 17 per cent (one in five people) of Americans living with HIV have access to private insurance while a major chunk of the population, approximately 30 per cent do not have any insurance coverage - private or otherwise (AIDS.gov, 2012b). This deprives them of the required treatment thus placing them at a high risk. The cost of prescription drugs are continuously on the rise and are expected to increase even further. Such rise in cost of drugs is attributed to the increased research and development programs and introduction of new and expensive drugs forcing the consumers to buy them. These costs could be reduced significantly without reducing the quality of care, by finding a permanent care for the disease thus reducing the costs associated with pro-long treatment and hospitalization (Lichtenberg, 2001). The introduction of this bill would ensure that a cure for AIDS is introduced thus significantly reducing the burden of excessive spending on receiving care and treatment services accessed by the patients of HIV/ AIDS. Negative/ positive outcomes: Failure to enact the bill would deprive the human civilization of a cure that might end the epidemic for good. It would continue to extol high amount of expenditure both on the part of the individuals as well as the government for provision of drugs, diagnosis, and treatment. One of the key setbacks of the proposed bill is the fact that it has been criticized by the opposition for being referred to the Department of Defense rather than the National Institute of Health. However despite such opposition, the enactment of the bill would yield immense positive outcomes since the medical research program is proposed to be managed by a consortium of scientists, academic researchers and other members and advocates of non-profit organizations working closely with the Department of Defense to examine and critically review the cure proposals. Status: The bill was introduced on July 25, 2012 and has a very low probability (1 per cent) of being enacted. The key reason behind the low probability of the bill being enacted is the fact that it is being sponsored by a member of the minority party and only 4 per cent of all House of Representative bills were enacted in the year 2009-2010 (Govtrack.us, 2012). The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel on August 24, 2012 for review. References: Guttamacher, S., Kelly, P. J., Ruiz-Janecko, Y., (2010). Community-based health interventions. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons Publication, p. 28-30. Lichtenberg, F. R., (2001). Are the benefits of newer drugs worth their cost? Evidence from the 1996 MEPS. Health Affairs, Vol. 20(5): 241-251 Shamoo, A. E., Resnik, D. B., (2009). Responsible conduct of research. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 5-7 Wolper, L. F., (2004). Health care administration: Planning, implementing, and managing organized delivery systems. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publication, p. 593-595 AIDS.gov (2012a). U.S. Statistics [Online] Available at: http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/ [Accessed: November 22, 2012] AIDS.gov (2012b). Healthcare reform and HIV/ AIDS [Online] Available at: http://aids.gov/federal-resources/policies/health-care-reform/ [Accessed: November 22, 2012] CDC.gov (2012a). HIV Cost effectiveness [Online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/preventionprograms/ce/index.htm [Accessed: November 23, 2012] CDC.gov (2012b). HIV in the United States: At a glance [Online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/us.htm [Accessed: November 23, 2012] CNN (2012). Talk of 'cure'at historic AIDS conference [Online] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/23/health/hiv-aids-conference/index.html [Accessed: November 23, 2012] Govtrack.us. (2012). H.R. 6187: Cure for AIDS Act of 2012 [Online] Available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6187/text [Accessed: November 22, 2012] Himes House.gov (2012). Himes, Lee introduce cure for AIDS Act [Online] Available at:http://himes.house.gov/press-release/himes-lee-introduce-cure-aids-act [Accessed: November 22, 2012] WHO (2012). Global Health Observatory [Online] Available at:http://www.who.int/gho/hiv/en/index.html [Accessed: November 22, 2012] The Wall Street Journal (2012). AIDS cure is back on agenda [Online] Available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444097904577535082169444706.html [Accessed: November 23, 2012] Part B The media outlets to whom this editorial is proposed to be submitted are: Metro Weekly Magazine and The Washington Post. Metro Weekly is a free weekly magazine targeted at the LGBT community in the Washington D.C. It is published every Thursday and the printed copies of the magazine are available in 500 locations across the country. It is read by over 45,000 people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (Metro Weekly, 2012a). It is distributed in various popular and heavily-trafficked locations such as Restaurants, shops, bookstores, colleges & libraries, gyms, salons, office & apartment buildings, nightclubs, theaters, metro train stops, and other 24 hour access street boxes (Metro Weekly, 2012b). Washington Post on the other hand is also a widely circulated newspaper which is published in Washington D. C. and the printed editions are available in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. The key purpose behind choosing the above mentioned newspapers / magazines is the fact both the media outlets have wide circulation and consumer outreach. Furthermore the Metro weekly magazine caters to a specific consumer segment i.e. the LGBT community, which is incidentally highly vulnerable to contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. The publication of this editorial would help reach out to this customer segment and in promoting and communicating the significance of the Cure for AIDS Act of 2012. References: Metro Weekly (2012a). About us [Online] Available at: http://www.metroweekly.com/about_us/where.php [Accessed: November 25, 2012] Metro Weekly (2012b). About us [Online] Available at: http://www.metroweekly.com/about_us/ [Accessed: November 25, 2012] Read More