Va. AIDS program faces $12.6M shortfall

A Virginia health program that provides medications to people with HIV and AIDS is facing a $12.6 million shortfall, as the poor economy and expanded disease treatment has boosted enrollment, the Washington Examiner reports.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program provides medications to people who are uninsured or underinsured and do not qualify for Medicaid and serves about 3,900 clients. But the program has been financially stressed when enrollment jumped 21 percent between 2007 and 2009 as a poor economy drove more people into poverty and expanded testing helped identify more people who are HIV positive, said Michele Chesser, senior health policy analyst for the General Assembly's Joint Commission on Health Care.

Read more of this story in the Washington Examiner: