Subject: ACT UP Philly finds Clinton's backbone
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 07:16:44 -0400

ACT UP Washington received the following release from ACT UP Philadelphia and
believe it merits your attention

ACT UP Demands that President Clinton deny Welfare, Medicaid waivers sought
by Governor Ridge

Activists Present Backbone as Gift to President

ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, has found President Clinton's
spine.  The group will return the spine to President Clinton during a
demonstration on Thursday, June 20th, at 12:30 pm at the Democratic Party
Headquarters on Broad and Walnut.  The group expects that the return of the
spine will better enable the President to deny the waivers needed by
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to restrict or eliminate welfare and health
care benefits for working poor Commonwealth residents.  President Clinton has
directed the US Department of Health and Human Services to grant state
petitions for waivers of federal welfare and Medicaid rules with little or no
scrutiny.  Governors have used the opportunity to drastically reduce services
and eligibility requirements.

"Governor Ridge dug a giant hole in this year's budget by giving away
hundreds of millions of dollars to corporations in the last two years.  Now
he has chosen to fill that hole in his budget with the bodies of thousands of
poor people and people with AIDS who will die without access to medical care
and the welfare benefits needed to stay housed and fed," said ACT UP member
Katie Krause.

"Now President Clinton has the power to prevent key elements of Ridge's
budget from taking effect.  Clinton allowed the Governor of Michigan to
eliminate the entire safety net in that state.   We are going to send the
president a message on Thursday.  If he rubber-stamps Ridge's proposal, he
will be as much to blame as Governor Ridge for the harm that will result,"
Krauss continued.  "We will give the president a much needed present: a spine
so that he can resist his urges to attempt to please ultra-conservatives
seeking to tear down key safeguards for people with HIV/AIDS and poor people.
 He will not win this election by pretending to be Bob Dole with big hair."

"With a conservatively estimated 300,000 people with HIV alive in the United
States, plus their families, friends, partners, and care-givers - we are a
sizable voting block of at least several million that must be taken into
consideration" said ACT UP member Jose' DeMarco.

Governor Ridge has yet to submit waivr requests for either his "welfare
reforms" or HealthChoices.  AIDS activists have condemned HealthChoices, the
state's plan to push Medicaid recipients into managed care, because the plan
could force people with HIV and othe chronic illnesses into substandard care.
 "The typical HMO general practioner does not keep up with the most recent
research and developments.  For people with a relatively new disease like
AIDS, knowledge of the latest treatments and strategies can mean life or
death," stated ACT UP member Dawn Acero.

When ACT UP demonstrated at the Governor's Christmas tree lighting cerimony
in Harrisburg last December, the group demanded that HMOs be required to
guarantee access to HIV specialists, and that a standard of care be adopted
by the HMO's  and continually updated by a panel of experts.  Department of
Public Welfare officials, responded to the group's 200 pages of proposed
amendments to the HealthChoices Request for Applications by requiring that
HMO's provide HIV specialists.  However, "HIV specialist" is not defined by
the RFA, and no standard of care is required.  "If there is no definition of
who can count as an "HIV specialist", there is no guarantee that people with
HIV or AIDS will have access to someone who will improve and extend their
lives.," claimed ACT UP activist Asia Russell.  "We need Clinton to deny the
Governor's Medicaid waiver petition unless quality health care for all is
explicitely required and defined, not just a remote possibility."

At least 150 people are expected for Thursday.s demonstration to present the
larger-than-life spine. ACT UP will also participate in a rally against the
Governor's budget at the State Building at Broad and Spring Garden on
Wednseday, June 19 at 11am.