HIVers who don't die on cue are likely to lose disability benefits.
<http://www.ght.org.uk/news_and_views_news_article/1631>:
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Disability Living Allowance Reviews - UPDATE
Most people paid under the "special rules" likely to lose some or all
DLA
Many HIV+ people on the highest rate of Disability Living Allowance
(DLA) for care are having their claims reviewed in 2008.
Some people get DLA under what are known as the “special rules”. The
special rules are the way the government fast tracks people to the
highest rate of DLA with the minimum of forms and rules, when the
person is expected to die within months. It is still used for people
with immediately life-threatening cancer and other conditions,
including HIV.
Anyone who has had special rules DLA for more than three years will
have their whole DLA claim reviewed in 2008. The review will consider
their whole DLA claim, including the mobility component, not just the
care component.
Many HIV-positive people (usually gay men) diagnosed in the 1980s and
1990s have proved the doctors wrong by surviving. Many have lived to
tell the tale, and the HIV death rate now is a tiny fraction of what
it once was. The much improved treatments and resulting improved
health means it is rare now for people with HIV to be granted special
rules DLA payments.
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A bit of background: DLA (Disability Living Allowance) is a benefit
that may be claimed by people in the UK who need significant help with
personal care and/or mobility needs. Unlike many other state
benefits, claimants can get DLA even if they are working, and it can
be a gateway to other benefits (such as Income Support), free use of
public transport, housing and council tax benefits, etc, etc, etc.
DLA claimants have to complete an extremely long and detailed form and
prove their entitlement to the benefit. Those who are expected to die
within six months are able to bypass these requirements by obtaining a
signed DLA1500 "special rules" form from their doctor.
In the early days of HIVAIDS doctors handed out these forms to HIVers
like confetti, however the UK government realised sometime ago that an
HIV+ diagnosis isn't a death sentence and wants to stop HIVers
claiming the lucrative DLA benefit.
Believers in HIV put the continued long-term good health of HIVers
down to the wonder drugs they take. Unfortunately that theory falls
flat on its face when you consider that HIVers find the side-effects
of their drug regimes horrendous and take unofficial 'treatment
holidays.'
Few HIVers taken their wonder drugs as and when prescribed because,
many have told me on the quiet, they can't cope with the side-effects.
Some accidentally miss a dose or two and realise they feel better
without the pills, so stop taking them altogether. Others take
unofficial 'treatment holidays' by taking HIV pills for as long as
they can cope with the side-effects and then laying off them for a
while. I've previously mentioned the strong-arm tactics used by HIV
doctors which makes HIVers reluctant to be honest with them about
their decision not to take the drugs, so doctors continue to prescribe
them, perhaps, in the belief they are benefiting the patient.
In Usenet article <317.1208865550.20080422@hiv-poz.co.uk> (see
<http://groups.google.com/group/misc.health.aids/msg/7062f1c896223a7e>
I highlighted two new products that monitor HIVers' adherence to HIV
drugs regimes. These are needed because it's known, by some, that few
HIVers stick to popping the dangerous pills as they should.
So, have ARVs really led to fewer HIV deaths?
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