Corbin Applauds Suit Filed by Nassau and Suffolk to Save AIDS/HIV Funding

Nassau County Deputy Presiding Officer Roger Corbin (D-Westbury) said this week that the cuts to local AIDS/HIV funding is inexcusable, and applauded a joint lawsuit filed by Nassau and Suffolk Counties against the federal government aimed at reinstating funding.

The lawsuit, effective March 1, alleges that the recent interpretation of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 is “arbitrary and capricious.” The suit says that the interpretation, which results in the loss of funding for important assistance programs for people with AIDS/HIV. These services include transportation, housing and emergency food assistance, health education and child care.

“These cuts are going to endanger lives, plain and simple,” Corbin said. “Many AIDS/HIV patients in this County rely on the services provided by federal funding. This community deserves every penny of AIDS/HIV funding it receives, and to remove is not only unfortunate, it’s irresponsible and dangerous.”

According to the legislation, a region is no longer a designated Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) when it fails to meet two criteria. The two criteria are: a region must have 3,000 people living with AIDS and it must have 2,000 new AIDS cases reported during the past five years. Long Island meets the requirement for people living with AIDS as it had 3,428 people living with AIDS as of Dec. 31, 2005. There were 1,505 newly diagnosed cases between 2001-2005.

In a letter to HHS earlier this month, Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer and Congressmen Steve Israel and Peter King pointed out that according to the EMA eligibility language, the Nassau-Suffolk region only has to meet one of the two requirements to qualify as an EMA.

“It is imperative that this funding be reestablished so that our residents can get the treatment and services they need to live healthier lives,” Corbin said.