The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - Kentucky is one of nine states that has a waiting list for low-income, uninsured residents to receive free HIV and AIDS drugs.

There are 123 such people in Kentucky and 1,263 people throughout the nine states, as of April, according to the eighth annual National AIDS Drug Assistance Monitoring Report released Wednesday.

Kentucky's waiting list reached a high of 265 in March 2001, said Lisa Daniel, the administrator of the Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Kentucky has had a waiting list for the statewide program since February 2000. The program has capped enrollment at 700 patients per year because of limited funding.

Five of the waiting Kentuckians have died since the list began. "All five died of other illnesses than those specifically related to HIV," Daniel said.

People on the waiting list are assisted in applying for free or low-cost medications from pharmaceutical companies, but not all of them entered such programs, Daniel said.

"It is a very bad situation," said Cathy Cox, executive director of Lexington-based AIDS Volunteers Inc., which serves people with HIV and AIDS in 72 Kentucky counties. "When people with HIV and AIDS can't access medications, it nullifies all the other advances. Access to medication is the only reason people are living longer and healthier. ... People here are going without medication and dying in this country."

About 2,150 Kentuckians were living with AIDS in 2002. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 850,000 to 950,000 Americans have AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes the disease, and 40,000 more are infected each year.

Daniel estimates that the longest waits for people on the state list are six to nine months.

Most of the program's funding comes from federal grants, but that has not kept pace with demand in some locations. Kentucky's drug assistance program cost more than $4.9 million last year.

The national report is prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors and the AIDS Treatment Data Network.

To qualify for the Kentucky Drug Assistance Program, a person must live in Kentucky and have an income at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $27,000 per year for a single person. He or she must have cash assets of less than $10,000 and have no insurance or Medicaid coverage. He or she must also have medical documentation.

To find out more or to enroll, call the program at (800) 420-7431.