Welcome
Leadership
Services

• Food Pantry
• > Advocacy
  • HIV Fact Sheet
  • > Economic Impact
  • Medical Fact Sheet
  • FAQs
  • Campaign Budget
  • How can I help?
• Prevention
• Housing

employment opportunities

Prevent An Economic Crisis: Support HIV Care Funding

Over 15,000 persons are living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina. A Cost of Illness Index suggests the economic impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our state is astronomic, exceeding $6.5 billion in 2002. Investing in early access to HIV care and treatment services can prevent expending millions of tax-payer dollars.

THE COSTS
A recent analysis* of South Carolina HIV and economic data for 2002 shows:

• $151 million was spent for direct medical care for HIV patients. Nearly half (48%) was spent on hospitalizations, and Medicaid paid the largest percent of hospitalization charges (43%).
• The estimated foregone earnings of persons living with HIV in 2002 who were too ill to work exceeded $5.7 billion.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

During the past decade, HIV care services around the state have contributed to:

• Decreasing the annual number of deaths caused by HIV by over 50% since 1995
• Decreasing annual HIV hospitalization incidence by 30% from 1996 to 2004.

Support $8 million for HIV care & treatment services for FY2008.

What are the benefits?
1. Saves money
2. Helps working
South Carolinians
3. Promotes prevention

Early HIV care and treatment keeps people healthier, working longer and is cheaper than letting the disease progress. Preventing advanced HIV/AIDS illness can save about $25,000 per year per patient in additional drug and hospitalization costs.

Care and support services can increase productivity through fewer sick days due to untreated HIV. Increasing funding will allow more people to stay on the job and off other public assistance programs (such as Medicaid).

Getting people into HIV care can increase their access to prevention information and reduce risk behaviors. Keeping people in care can prevent the development of drug-resistant strains of HIV. HIV treatments can also lessen the risk of HIV transmission.