Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Ryan White CARE Act consists of several major sections, or titles. The purpose of Title I is to provide emergency relief grants to the metropolitan areas hardest hit by AIDS, that is, those that report more than two thousand AIDS cases. The title specifies requirements for eligibility for grants and procedures for making such grants. It also specifies how the money is to be spent, with emphasis on enhancing “the quality of services, care, and treatment to low-income individuals and families with HIV disease.” The purpose of Title II is “to enable such States to improve the quality, availability and organization of care, treatment and support services for individuals and families with HIV disease in urban and rural areas.” It provides support for home and community-based care, help with the continuation of health-insurance coverage, and treatment and drugs. Title II also supports programs for early intervention.

Title III focuses on reporting requirements. To receive grants, states are required to carry out confidential epidemiological studies and to notify people at risk for the disease, principally the sexual partners of those diagnosed with the disease. Title IV focuses on research and calls for the development of “information concerning the organization, impact, efficacy, and cost effectiveness of various health care service delivery and financing systems for the care of individuals with HIV disease.” Put simply, the government wants to know what is working and what is not, so it requires the secretary of health and human services to investigate such matters as cost-effectiveness of programs, financing mechanisms, and any “significant financial, regulatory, organizational, and social barriers that serve to limit the delivery of high quality care services to individuals and families with HIV disease.” Title V consists of miscellaneous provisions. It states, for example, that funds cannot be used to provide needles or syringes to illegal drug users, that state laws must be adequate to prosecute people who knowingly donate infected blood, that blood banks have to be inspected, and that victims of sexual abuse in prisons must be informed if their attacker tests positive for the HIV virus.