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CLINTON GORE ON AIDS
Fighting the AIDS epidemic will be a top priority of a Clinton/Gore
Administration. If we fail to commitour hearts and resources now to
fighting AIDS, we will pay a far greater price in the future, both in
deaths and in dollars. We need leaders who will focus national
attention on AIDS, to encourage compassion and understanding, to
promote education and to speak out against intolerance.
We can't afford another four years without a plan to declare war on
AIDS. We can't afford to have yet another President who remains
silent about AIDS or who puts the issue on the back burner.
THE CLINTON/GORE PLAN
Increase funding for desperately needed new initiatives in research,
prevention and treatment.
Appoint an AIDS policy director to coordinate federal AIDS policies,
cut through bureaucratic red tape and implement recommendations
made by the National Commission on AIDS.
Speed up the drug approval process and commit increased resources
to research and development of AIDS-related treatments and
vaccines, and ensure that women and people of color are included in
research and drug trials.
Fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act. Work closely with individuals
and communities that are affected by HIV to create a partnership
between the federal government and those with knowledge and
experience in fighting HIV.
Promote a national AIDS education and prevention initiative that
disseminates frank and accurate information to reduce the spread of
the disease, and educates our children about the nature and threat of
AIDS.
Provide quality health coverage to all Americans with HIV as part of
a broader national health care program; work vigorously to improve
access to promising experimental therapies for people with
life-threatening illnesses; and improve preventive and long-term care.
Combat AIDS-related discrimination and oppose needless mandatory
HIV testing in federal organizations such as the Peace Corps, Job
Corps and the Foreign Service; stop the cynical politicization of
immigration policies by directing the Justice Department to follow
the Department of Health and Human Services' recommendation
that HIV be removed from the immigration restrictions list; promote
legislation based on sound scientific and public health principles, not
on panic, politics and prejudice.
Prevention and education
Launch a strong and effective AIDS education campaign.
Reevaluate the AIDS prevention budget at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control to ensure that education is a top priority.
Ensure that increased funding for prevention and services goes
directly to community based organizations that are on the frontline
of the battle against the HIV virus.
Promote AIDS education in American schools.
Provide drug treatment on demand to stop the spread of HIV by
intravenous drug users.
Increase funding for behavior and social science research so that we
can better understand the behaviors that put people at risk for HIV.
Support local efforts to make condoms available in schools.
Treatment and care
Provide health care for all Americans, including those with HIV,
through coverage they obtain either on the job or through
government-mandated programs, which will include:
- Comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services, including
frequent diagnostic monitoring, early intervention therapies, and
psychological care.
- Prescription drugs and improved access to experimental therapies.
Because treatments are not accessible unless they are affordable, a
Clinton/Gore Administration will support legislation that denies tax
breaks to companies that raise the cost of drugs faster than
Americans' ability to pay for them.
- Adequate options for long-term home and community-based care
that minimize unnecessary and wasteful hospitalizations.
- Voluntary, confidential, or anonymous testing and counseling for
AIDS and HIV for every American who wants it.
Encourage the Centers for Disease Control to review periodically
their definition of AIDS to ensure that symptoms and infections that
occur among women, people of color and drug users are included in
the federal definition, and promptly made eligible for all federal
benefit programs for people with AIDS.
Develop programs with the Department of Health and Human
Service to ensure that America's health care professional are kept fully
and regularly informed aobut diagnosing and treating HIV.
Have the National Institutes of Health (NIH) develop a formalized
mechanism to make sure that state-of-the-art informations is broadly
and rapidly disseminated to health professional and people with HIV
disease.
Treatment and drug development
Work vigorously to develop a vaccine against AIDS and to find
therapies that will destroy HIV, repair the immune system and
prevent and treat AIDS-related infections.
Increase funding for both AIDS-specific and general biomedical
research.
Expand clinical and community based trials for treatments and
vaccines, and raise the level of participation of under-represented
populations.
Reorganize the NIH infrastructure to streamline AIDS research
efforts and improve planning efficiency and communication.
Promote a more rapid review by the NIH of research grant
applications and a speedier distribution of funding for approved
studies.
Facilitate greater access to drugs and work to speed up the drug
approval process.
Ensure that the FDA has the resources to assist in the efficient design
of AIDS-related drug trials and to review their results rapidly. The
FDA will also make possible greater access to promising experimental
therapies without compromising patient safety.
Discrimination
Fight all AIDS-related discrimination and discrimination based on
race, gender and sexual orientation.
Fully implement the Americans with Disabilities Act and resist any
efforts to weaken its provisions.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
must make it a high priority to monitor the occurrence of
AIDS-related discrimination and the enforcement of the ADA with
respect to HIV-related complaints.
Forbid health insurance companies form denying coverage to
HIV-positive applicants.
Prhohibit all health plans from adopting discriminatory caps or
exclusions that provide lower coverage for AIDS than for any other
life-threatening illnesses. No American will be denied health coverage
because he or she loses a job or has a pre-existing condition.
Oppose mandatory testing in federal organizations like the Peace
Corps and Foreign Service.
Lift the current ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by
foreign nationals with HIV.
The Record
As chairman of the National Governors' Association, Governor
Clinton formed the first working group of governors to develop an
AIDS policy. Clinton was a moving force in the creation of an AIDS
action plan adopted by the Governors' Association which called for
education and prevention efforts at the local, state and federal levels.
Governor Clinton supported teacher training for AIDS education and
a detailed study of the availability of HIV education at the local
level.
Since 1990, AIDS education has been required in all Arkansas
schools, and there has been a 40% increase in HIV counseling and
voluntary testing in Arkansas.
The Arkansas AIDS Advisory Committee was established in 1987.
This committee makes recommendations on HIV policy and
program services. HIV services in the state currently include
anonymous testing at two centers and confidential testing and
counseling at public health clinics in all 75 Arkansas counties.
Senator Al Gore voted to ban discrimination against people with
AIDS or HIV.
Voted for legislation to remove HIV from the immigration
restrictions list.
Supported funding for the Ryan White AIDS Act.
Voted to provide emergency relief to metropolitan areas hardest hit
by AIDS, to health care facilities serving many low-income
individuals and families with HIV and to states to assist in improving
the quality of treatment and support services for people with HIV.