Congresswoman Waters Promotes Health Care Reform at National HIV Prevention Conference

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) emphasized the importance of health care reform in a speech today at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. A longtime leader in Congress for directing federal funds and attention to AIDS prevention, treatment, and research, Congresswoman Waters told conference attendees that the U.S. should pursue a National AIDS Strategy that will reduce infections, increase access to insurance and care, and reduce health disparities at a time when two-thirds of all infected Americans are minorities.  She also stressed that HIV prevention must be a component of any meaningful health care reform.
 
"As we debate both the specific and general aspects of health care reform in Washington and around the country, forefront in our minds must be the Americans living with diseases such as HIV," said Congresswoman Waters. "For almost 30 years we have continued to learn more about what this disease is, what it does, who it affects most, what kinds of treatment it responds to, and how it can be prevented. I believe that our efforts to reform our broken health care system must focus on securing health insurance coverage for all people stricken by the disease, expanding treatments that will prolong life and lessen pain, and reducing both the number of infections and the disparities historically associated with the disease."

Congresswoman Waters was in Atlanta following her recent town hall event on health care reform with constituents in Los Angeles. Tying together health care reform and the need to more urgently and specifically address HIV prevention and treatment issues, she shared her town hall health care presentation with the conference attendees and reiterated her call for a robust public option that will compete with insurance companies to lower premiums, expand choice, and maintain quality.

"HIV prevention and treatment services are inextricably linked to the larger issue of affordable, quality health care coverage," said Congresswoman Waters. "Reforming the system to insure all Americans and prevent denials based on discrimination through pre-existing conditions is essential. That way all people, but particularly those most in need of health care access, such as HIV patients, can get the testing, diagnoses, and treatments they need to help them live longer."

According to the CDC more than one million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS — and more than one out of five people living with HIV do not know they are infected. 

Congresswoman Waters recently introduced the Routine HIV Screening Coverage Act (H.R. 2137), which would require health insurance plans to cover routine HIV tests under the same terms and conditions as other routine health screenings. She also introduced H. Res. 592, to highlight National Clinicians HIV/AIDS Testing and Awareness Day, which was celebrated on Tuesday, July 21, 2009.  The purpose of the resolution is to encourage physicians, nurses, dentists and other clinicians to become actively involved in HIV/AIDS awareness, testing, treatment, and referral services; Congresswoman Waters herself was tested that day in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the CDC 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference, visit https://www.2009nhpc.org/
 

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