AIDS Assistance

As you noted in your editorial (“Do’s and Don’ts of Budgeting,” Sept. 15), Congress has overwhelmingly authorized disaster relief for those cities hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic and assistance to all 50 states to develop more cost-efficient programs of AIDS care. However, in the continuing budget standoff, the actual appropriation of the funds needed to enact these critical programs is in jeopardy.

While the federal government has made a substantial investment in HIV research and prevention, spending for AIDS care and treatment remains utterly inadequate. Congress and the President should carefully assess the much higher costs of allowing urban health care systems to collapse.

It has been clearly demonstrated that AIDS care can be delivered at substantially lower cost--through early treatment, ambulatory medical services and home care. These are the programs that the Ryan White AIDS Care Act will make possible. The most costly mistake of all is continued inaction.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

Founding National Chairman

American Foundation for AIDS Research

New York