*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.07.22 :  HIV Treatment Cost

Bob Isquith (301) 227-8364
July 22, 1992

     AMSTERDAM--The cost of treating all persons in the United
States with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -- including
those diagnosed with AIDS -- will increase 48 percent by 1995,
according to new estimates by Fred J. Hellinger, Ph.D., of the
Public Health Service's Agency for Health Care Policy and
Research.  Dr. Hellinger spoke today at a meeting of the Eighth
International Conference on AIDS in the Netherlands.
     "The cost of treating people who are HIV-positive could rise

from $10.3 billion this year to $15.2 billion by 1995," Dr. Hellinger 
said.  These cumulative figures include the cost for treating people
with AIDS and also those who test positive but have not yet
developed symptoms.  They reflect expenditures for such items as
visits to physicians' offices, clinic and hospital services, social
support services, and drugs or medications.
     Dr. Hellinger indicated that only part of the rise is because
of anticipated increases in AIDS cases and numbers of
individuals who test HIV-positive.  "The average cost of treating 
both, people with AIDS and those who test positive, is higher than
had been calculated in other recent studies," he said.  "This is
largely a result of the fact that early and aggressive treatment has
led to significantly higher costs for treating a person in the 
initial stages of HIV disease."  
     Dr. Hellinger now estimates the average yearly cost of treating
a person with AIDS is $38,300, and that the average yearly cost of
treating a person with HIV but who has not yet developed AIDS is
$10,000.  The lifetime cost of treating a person with AIDS -- from
diagnosis until death -- is $102,000.  Using data on the number of
AIDS cases reported during the 102 four-week periods between January
1984 and November 1991, the number of AIDS cases is projected to be
66,300 in 1992, 76,300 in 1993, 86,800 in 1994 and 97,800 in 1995.
     The distinction between a person with AIDS and one without AIDS
but who is HIV-positive is currently based on whether or not the
individual displays certain characteristic symptoms or pathologies
often associated with the disease.  These include, for example,
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Kaposi's sarcoma and toxoplasmosis.
     This is the first study to use data from the agency's AIDS Cost
and Service Utilization Survey to estimate the cost of treating
persons with HIV.  ACSUS is an in-depth sample survey of the health
and social services used by approximately 2,000 persons with HIV in
10 cities around the nation.  The study also uses data from other 
sources, including the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, the
Communicable Disease Center's Adult/Adolescent Spectrum of Disease
Study, and information supplied by health agencies and other
official sources in New York, California, Florida and Hawaii.
       About 40 percent of all AIDS patients receive Medicaid
coverage at some point during their illness.  According to the
Health Care Financing Administration, federal and state Medicaid
expenditures are estimated at slightly over $2 billion for the
health care cost of treating AIDS patients in FY *This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.  Medicare
program expenditures for AIDS are estimated at $280 million for FY
*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.
     AHCPR is the focal point for health services research within
the federal government.  In addition to tracking the economic impact
of AIDS and HIV disease, AHCPR sponsors research relating to quality
of care and access to services for people with AIDS, and
effectiveness of medical treatment for AIDS.

________________
NOTE TO EDITORS:  This release is based on information delivered
orally at the Eighth International Conference on AIDS, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, July 22, *This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.  A text, based on the study
"Forecasts of the Costs of Medical Care for Persons With HIV:  1992-
1995," will appear in the Fall 1992 issue of Inquiry, published by
the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, Chicago, ILL.

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