Iowa set to receive additional ADAP funds

Iowa is one of 10 states that will receive part of a pledged $20 million from the Bush administration to eliminate waiting lists for federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, the Des Moines Register reports. The extra funding will allow the state to treat the 16 HIV-positive people currently on Iowa's ADAP waiting list. State ADAP manager Holly Hanson called the extra funding "just a Band-Aid" and noted that the money will not help the ADAP address its ongoing financial shortfalls that forced the creation of the waiting list in the first place. In addition, the new funding applies only to those people currently on the ADAP waiting list; new applicants will continue to be placed on a waiting list for the program, which provides anti-HIV medications to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured HIV-positive people. Hanson says the waiting list is likely to significantly grow again as she receives about 12 new applications per month for the program.