WHEREAS, the Ryan White CARE Act has had a significant impact on the lives and health of people with HIV/AIDS in our cities; and

WHEREAS, the services provided by the CARE Act are urgently needed by low-income, uninsured and underinsured persons living with HIV/AIDS; and

WHEREAS, since its enactment in 1990, the Ryan White CARE Act has dramatically improved the quality of life of people living with HIV-disease and their families, reduced use of costly inpatient care, and increased access to care for low-income, underserved populations, including people of color; and

WHEREAS, the authorization of the Ryan White CARE Act expires in September of this year; and

WHEREAS, a reauthorized Act should build on the Act’s decade of success by modernizing it to address new challenges in the HIV/AIDS epidemic while maintaining the successful structure, strong local control, and continuity of care of existing services present in the current law; and

WHEREAS, mayors are concerned that although there have been recent declines in AIDS-related deaths, the HIV/AIDS epidemic remains an enormous health emergency in the United States, with approximately 40,000 new infections annually and between 850,000 and 950,000 persons living with HIV; and

WHEREAS, early diagnosis and treatment programs funded through the CARE Act remain an effective investment in people and in the health care system, saving substantial dollars by reducing hospital admissions by 30 percent nationally and up to 75 percent in some locales,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors urges Congress to work swiftly to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors urges that Congress, in reauthorizing the Act, modify it to give cities and their communities the proper tools to address new challenges confronting the HIV/AIDS epidemic while maintaining the Act’s successful structure, strong local control, and a continuity of care so that life-saving health services are not interrupted.