Politico Playbook Ads – AIDS Healthcare Foundation

POLITICO - July 4, 2011 - July 10, 2011

Day 1 – Monday, July 4th
Who is better on AIDS—Obama or Bush?

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Who is better on AIDS - President George W. Bush or President Barack Obama? Today, more than 8,600 Americans with AIDS are waiting to receive lifesaving drugs. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: The Obama administration spent 15 months drafting a national AIDS strategy that has yet to be funded or implemented. Meanwhile, waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs for low-income Americans have ballooned to more than 8,600 patients in 13 states. The Obama administration has even stopped progress made on global AIDS started in Bush’s landmark President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Obama’s global AIDS strategy has been widely criticized. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said: “President Obama’s PEPFAR strategy would reduce the number of new patients receiving treatment…resulting in 1.2 million avoidable deaths over the next five years...” (NY Times).

So, who is better on AIDS - President Bush or President Obama? Learn more and send an e-letter: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

Day 2 - Tuesday, July 5th
Obama has broken his Campaign and Senate promises on AIDS.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: President Obama’s legacy of broken promises on AIDS continues. As Senator, Obama voted to fully fund the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. As a Presidential candidate, Obama promised to double the number of people on treatment. As President, Obama has not delivered. www.changeAIDSObama.org.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Headline in 2006: Senator Obama to Take Public HIV Test in Kenya to Promote AIDS Awareness. Headline in 2010: Obama is Heckled By AIDS Protestors. What went wrong?

When campaigning for President, then-Senator Obama promised to “provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS . . . in order to at least double the number of HIV-positive people on treatment and continue to provide treatments to one- third of all those who desperately need them.”

As President, Obama has not honored that promise, refusing to seek full funding of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), President George W. Bush’s landmark global AIDS funding bill. And at home? More than 8,600 Americans languish on waiting lists to receive lifesaving AIDS medicines through state programs – a record number.

Urge President Obama to show real leadership on AIDS. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

Day 3 – Wednesday, July 6th
Obama ignores the AIDS drug waiting list crisis.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Since the inception of federally-funded, state-run AIDS Drugs Assistance Programs (ADAPs), there has never been a crisis as bad as this. Under President Obama, waiting lists to receive life-saving AIDS drugs have ballooned to more than 8,600 Americans. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: How could a Democratic President preside over one of the worst AIDS drug crises in U.S. history? Access to AIDS drugs – while never needed more to improve health and prevent new infections – is decreasing. More than 8,600 Americans are waiting for lifesaving drugs through the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

An ugly truth about ADAP waiting lists is that they disproportionately impact the South, communities of color, and some of the most impoverished areas. In fact, over 94% of ADAP waiting list patients now reside in the South. President Obama has made scant effort to alleviate this unprecedented crisis and to give a hand to these heavily impacted communities.

It is almost beyond belief that the worst AIDS drug crisis in the U.S. in recent memory continues unabated while a Democrat is in the White House. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

Day 4 – Thursday, July 7th
At a time of great hope in AIDS, Obama’s leadership falls far short.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Never before have we had such effective tools to fight AIDS. Unfortunately, not since Reagan have we had worse leadership on AIDS. Roundly criticized for his administration’s shortcomings on global AIDS, Obama’s efforts domestically have been equally dismal. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: President Obama’s failure to lead on AIDS has resulted in the most prolonged AIDS drug access crisis ever. More than 8,600 low-income patients without health insurance are on waiting lists to receive AIDS treatment through AIDS Drug Assistance Programs nationwide. It has never been this bad or this long. Such a public health crisis is especially shameful in light of new NIH research showing that patients on AIDS treatment are 96% less likely to pass the virus on to others. President Obama’s failure to lead on AIDS not only threatens the lives of thousands of Americans living with AIDS, but also hurts efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

President Obama has dashed the hopes of thousands of Americans living with HIV/AIDS in need of treatment. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org.

Day 5 – Friday, July 8th
With his inaction on AIDS, Obama turns his back on his base: blacks & gays

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: By doing little on AIDS in the US, President Obama is going back on campaign promises and betraying some of his most ardent supporters—African Americans and gay people—the two groups most devastated by the AIDS epidemic. Why? Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Although African Americans represent 12% of the U.S. population, they account for 45% of new HIV infections in the US and over 500,000 of the more than 1.1 million people living with—and dying from—AIDS in the US today. Gays, who represent 4% of the population, account for nearly half of the people with HIV in the US In 2008, Obama received 95% of the black vote and 70% of the gay vote. By continuing to do nothing meaningful on AIDS domestically, President Obama is turning his back on his campaign promises as well as on some of his most ardent supporters. This inaction on AIDS is an indefensible public health strategy and may come back to haunt Obama politically. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org  

Day6 – Saturday, July 9th
With his inaction on AIDS, Obama turns his back on Africa

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: The US once led the way for millions of Africans to receive lifesaving AIDS treatment. By doing little on AIDS now, President Obama is turning his back on Africa, where two-thirds of people with AIDS live. Why? Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Two-thirds of the 33 million people with HIV/AIDS today live in Sub-Saharan Africa. With the creation of PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) before Obama’s presidency, the US led the way for millions in need in Africa and elsewhere—mothers, fathers and children—to receive lifesaving care and AIDS treatment. In doing so, the US also spurred other countries and global partners to action. Major US and international drug companies also supported this effort by reducing prices for HIV/AIDS treatments to as little as $150 per patient per year in Africa. Now a groundbreaking new study (in Africa) shows that AIDS treatment also works as prevention, reducing HIV transmission by 96%. Yet today, in choosing to do little on AIDS globally, President Obama is squandering a remarkable legacy of lifesaving US leadership on AIDS. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org

Day 7 – Sunday, July 10th
AIDS drug waiting lists and patient disenrollments are de facto health care rationing—something Obama seems to endorse

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: Who would have thought? The Obama administration is already rationing health care! Today, over 8,600 US AIDS patients in 13 states linger on waiting lists to access lifesaving AIDS drugs while Obama does little or nothing to help. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org

** A message from AIDS Healthcare Foundation: The Obama administration shows callous disregard for the lives of vulnerable US HIV/AIDS patients who are on waiting lists to access lifesaving antiretroviral medications through the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. On Obama’s watch, the number of people on waiting lists for ADAP has grown from 99 in June 2009 to 2,939 in September 2010. At that time, the Obama administration would NOT support legislation reallocating $126 million—from $22 billion in unspent stimulus funding in HHS—to solve the wait list crisis. As of June 2011, there are over 8,600 people in 13 states on ADAP waiting lists. Additional thousands of AIDS patients are being disenrolled entirely today as states change their patient eligibility criteria. Waiting lists and patient disenrollments—this is what health care rationing looks like, and it seems to have President Obama’s endorsement. Learn more and take action: www.changeAIDSObama.org. 

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