Ryan White CARE Act

The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act is the largest federal program dedicated to providing care and treatment for people living with HIV. A key component of the public health safety net, it reaches hundreds of thousands of people every year with medical care, drugs, and support services. The CARE Act has been a huge success in reducing sickness and death from HIV disease and helping people live longer, more healthy and productive lives.

CARE Act Programs

The CARE Act serves more than half a million people every year through several programs.

• Title I provides grants to eligible metropolitan areas disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS.



• Title II provides grants to states and territories to improve the quality, organization, and access to their HIV/AIDS health care system. Title II also funds the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP, to provide access to HIV/AIDS medications for people who cannot afford them.



• Title III funds outpatient early intervention and ambulatory care. It also support planning grants to help organizations more effectively deliver care.



• Title IV provides grants for comprehensive, family-centered care for children, youth, women, and families.



• The HIV/AIDS Dental Reimbursement Program reimburses dental schools and certain other dental education programs for uncompensated costs incurred in providing oral health treatment to people living with HIV disease.



• The Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program supports the demonstration and evaluation of innovative care delivery models for hard-to-reach populations.



• The AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC) Program funds a network of national and regional centers that provide education and training for health care providers.

Reauthorization

The Ryan White CARE Act first became law in 1990 and must periodically reauthorized by Congress. The last reauthorization of the CARE Act was in December of 2006, and it was reauthorized for three years. Every time the CARE Act comes up for reauthorization, AIDS Alliance works hard to make sure that the voices of women, youth, and families living with HIV and the programs that serve them are heard on Capitol Hill. Before the last reauthorization, AIDS Alliance held town hall forums across the U.S. and engaged in a year-long community process to develop 10 policy principles for reauthorization of Title IV, which we then incorporated into a position paper on reauthorization. Throughout the reauthorization process, we worked with our consumer and provider members to educate Congress about what women, children, youth, and families need from the CARE Act in local communities. Following reauthorization, AIDS Alliance developed several documents to help guide our members through the implementation process, including a Title IV summary, a side-by-side comparison of our policy recommendations and the new law, and a Q & A for the questions we are asked most frequently about the new law.

The Ryan White CARE Act is up for reauthorization again by December 2009, and AIDS Alliance is already gearing up to ensure that the voices of women, youth, and families will be heard. If you would like to stay informed about the next reauthorization and learn how you can get involved, sign up here.