budget cuts

For those of you living here in California, you may be aware of the current budget crisis. Included in the budget cuts this year was $52 million from HIV prevention. Here is my question; how can it be cheaper to wait for illness rather then prevent it. The expenses of health care come from those that are very ill, those that did not receive the preventative care, those that did not get the cancer screening, those that did not know they had diabetes because they were never tested early. The expenses arrive from the ER, from late stage care.
So, lets just take HIV. What makes more financial sense? Outreach in the communities talking about prevention has in fact actually cut the number of infections, which would cut the cost of treatment.. which is much less expensive, as you can imagine.
What about testing and finding early diagnoses. Don't you think is is cheaper to provide care early instead of ending up in the emergency room, intubated with multiple organisms growing because your immune system is shot from having HIV for so long and you did not even know it.
A month of antiretroviral therapy is about $1300. a month in the ICU can be over $100,000 depending on your physical needs.
So, what makes more sense? Really.
Take breast cancer. If you get mammograms done regularly and find a cancer before it has spread not only it is less of a financial burden but you are more likely to have better outcomes = survival. The same is true with HIV/AIDS. This should be viewed as a chronic disease that does better when found early and managed properly.
Waiting to spend more later does not seem like financial soundness.
Prevention is the key to health both physical and financial.
The rates of infection have not come down. We must face the fact that actually more prevention is needed. More discussion. Please start talking, talk loud.. Speak with your family, your kids, their friends. Prevention is going to have to come from THE PEOPLE because the funds to the prevention organizations have been cut. It is up to us to get the dialogue going. I can tell you this. we are no where near a cure nor do we have a vaccine. Education/discussion is our only hope and that is where you come in.
SCREAM about AIDS.
I dare you!