AIDS WATCH : The Cost of Caring

The cost of caring for people with serious illnesses figures heavily in the national debate on health care reform, particularly when the question of whether employers can afford health insurance is involved.

The medical costs related to employees with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome long have been presumed to be especially high. That presumption has led to real-life stories that mirror the plot of the acclaimed movie “Philadelphia,� in which a lawyer is fired because he has AIDS.

A nearly identical allegation is playing itself out in a lawsuit in San Diego, and courts have awarded large settlements to AIDS victims or their survivors in similar cases in Pennsylvania and New York.

Now, an important study finds that the costs of HIV and AIDS to employers are much smaller than thought--about $17,000 on average.

One of the report’s authors adds that HIV and AIDS are “in the low mid-range in terms of overall costs to society� when compared to other catastrophic diseases such as cancer.

The study was conducted under the auspices of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by a Georgia State University health economist and a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s School of Health and Human Services. Clearly this report is not the final word on the financial costs of HIV and AIDS cases, but it helps pierce the veil of ignorance and stigma that continues to surround this disease. It deserves a wide audience.