Congresswoman Waters Urges Continued Vigilance Against HIV/AIDS on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today, in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), a longtime leader of congressional efforts to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, research, testing, and treatment, called for continued vigilance in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She made her remarks at a press conference organized by the Black AIDS Institute in Carson, CA.

"Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This is a day we set aside to increase HIV awareness and promote prevention, testing and treatment among African-Americans, and also to recognize the progress that has been made in the ongoing fight to combat this horrible illness. According to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are more than 510,000 African-Americans living with HIV/AIDS today.

"This number speaks to the need for the Minority AIDS Initiative, which I established in 1998 when I was the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. The initiative was founded to direct resources to address the epidemic's disproportionate impact on communities of color. Because of strong support in Congress, the Minority AIDS Initiative received $429 million in fiscal year 2012, more than any previous year. After a year of budget battles, Congress finally passed a spending bill for fiscal year 2014, which restored some of the sequestered funds for health programs.

"I also reintroduced the Stop AIDS in Prison Act (H.R. 895) last year. This bill requires a comprehensive plan to provide HIV prevention, testing, and treatment for inmates in federal prisons. I have introduced this bill several times over the years, and while it has never made it to the President's desk, it has focused attention on the problem of HIV/AIDS in our nation's prisons. As a result, the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which was released in 2010, requires the Bureau of Prisons to take steps to address the effects of HIV/AIDS within the prison population.

"Finally, I worked hard to expand access to routine HIV testing. Routine testing is especially important for black Americans, because so many blacks who are living with HIV/AIDS don't know they are infected. In 2012, I introduced the Routine HIV Screening Coverage Act (H.R. 4470). This bill would have required health insurance plans to cover routine HIV tests as preventive health screenings without imposing co-payments or deductibles.

"After I introduced this bill, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force worked to finalize a recommendation that all adolescents and adults ages 15 to 65 should be screened for HIV infection. This means that routine HIV screening is now considered standard medical practice. Insurance companies are required under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to cover routine HIV screening as an essential benefit, and they cannot impose co-payments or deductibles.

"The HIV/AIDS epidemic must be a top priority for African-Americans and indeed for all Americans. We must make it a top priority to stop the spread of HIV, tell our friends and neighbors to get tested, and get those who are infected into treatment. I urge my friends in the black community and my colleagues in Congress to remain vigilant in fighting this disease. There is more work to be done, and each of us must do our part."

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