US May Lift Entry Ban on HIV Patients

[The Straight Story]

US May Lift Entry Ban on HIV Patients

For more than two decades, anybody who is HIV positive has been prevented from entering the United States. But with President Barack Obama’s support, the ban will likely expire soon, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) taking public comments until August 17. The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will then make the final decision.

“We’re trying to end the stigma and the discriminatory practice for a disease that doesn’t warrant exclusion for coming into this country,” said the director of the CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine, Dr. Martin Cetron. “We have to appreciate this is not a threat we face from abroad.” He acknowledged that “HIV is clearly a public health disease of significance,” but added that simply letting somebody with HIV into the country does not “immediately pose a risk to the public.”

The proposal could allow an average of about 5,000 HIV-infected people into the United States each year. And according to a CDC estimate published in the federal register, the lifetime medical costs of those admitted in just the first year would total almost $100 million. The United States is one of about 15 countries that prevent entry of HIV-positive patients, though it is possible to obtain a waiver under certain conditions.

Critics of the proposed regulation change are mainly worried about the cost or that infected immigrants and travelers could spread the disease. “It becomes a matter of collective responsibility,” explained Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit organization which usually advocates stricter immigration law. “The American people shouldn’t be in a position where they have to pay for it.”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/immigration/1457

[SpartanDem]

1. Long overdue.nt

[JonQ]

2. It does seem like we'll end up paying for their healthcare

and it makes me nervous, letting in people with a fatal disease that cannot be cured. This isn't chickenpox.

No I don't think HIV+ patients are immoral or should be punished or anything barbaric like that. I just don't think we really need to add to our current HIV+ population. Our goal should be to eradicate the disease within our borders, not increase it (no I'm not talking death camps, as I'm sure I will be accused of, but through education and prevention).

5000 more people per year means 5000 more people who could potentially spread the disease within our borders.

[dsc]

3. We don't provide health care to immigrants

not to mention, we don't ban say cancer patients from the US.

[obliviously]

4. No one is ever turned away from an emergency room.

Don't worry our country is rolling in money right now. I think we just got in a new shipment of ink cartridges!

[anigbrowl]

5. We do sometimes, and cancer isn't contagious

That said, I support this change and don't think it'll have any serious negative long-term implications.

[JonQ]

7. Cancer doesn't spread on it's own

and if we end up with universal health care we would have to provide health care for all.

[KamaAina]

6. They're talking about travelers, not immigrants

That's right. No one with HIV is allowed to travel to the Land of the Free*. Let alone come here for medical treatment.

[JonQ]

8. Being here on vacation

or moving here doesn't really matter to the virus. It will happily spread from traveler to citizen as happily as it would from citizen to citizen.