CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee's assistance program for people with HIV and AIDS has a waiting list for the first time since it started in the early 1990s.
Health officials told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the drug- and insurance-assistance program has reached its capacity, due both to increased costs for many living with the disease and an increase in HIV cases.
The state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program provides funding to help low-income people with HIV and AIDS receive medical services and costly drugs.
The state's medical director for HIV-AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, Dr. Carolyn Wester, said the program fortunately has "had a chance to plan."
Wester said most people will have access to drug companies' programs and hopefully federal assistance.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
