ABSTRACT
Claiming that New York provides more to "AIDS victims" than any other city or state including San Francisco, Koch announced new insurance and health service proposals. Most of these, however, were made in the form of a request to Governor Cuomo, placing the burden for action on Albany. Koch's proposal included a request for a higher rate of reimbursement for AIDS patients. While average treatment rates hover at about $500 per day, AIDS patients require from $800–$1,000. According to Katy Taylor of the Commission for Human Rights, since 1983 there have been two hundred complaints of discrimination against persons with AIDS "in every case imaginable including employment, housing, public accommodation, insurance, and violence." The Koch administration acknowledged that the rate of increase of AIDS is higher among intravenous drug users than gay men, except for cases in which these categories overlap. Koch rejected the idea of trying to stop drug use saying it was too prevalent.
