Insurance Firm Stalls 1st AIDS Needle Program

The country’s first attempt to control the spread of AIDS by giving away clean hypodermic needles to intravenous drug users has been stalled by an insurance company’s reluctance to cover the program without previous actuarial data.

An official of the St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., which insures the Portland, Ore., social service agency developing the needle-exchange program, said Thursday that the firm has no way of assessing the risk and thus setting a price for coverage.

“We’re especially concerned about the potential for claims related to the spread of AIDS through the needles supplied by the clinic,” said Beth Murray, a company spokeswoman. “We understand they’re clean when they come out, but there’s no controlling them after that.”

‘Very Tragic’

Officials with the insurance company and the nonprofit social service agency, Outside-In, said they are attempting to resolve the impasse. They said they could not predict whether a compromise might eventually be reached.

“If for some reason they can’t insure their program, I think it’s extremely significant and very tragic,” said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, which has agreed to finance the program and related research.

“The potential for this to demonstrate hopefully a reduction in (the spread of infection) and possibly a decrease in drug use I think is significant,” said Silverman, noting that the program, if successful, could also in the long run save health insurance costs.

Reducing Sharing

The needle-exchange program, which was scheduled to begin this month, is aimed at reducing the needle-sharing implicated in the spread of the AIDS virus. The agency plans to exchange sterile needles and syringes for used, contaminated equipment.

Similar experimental programs have been under way in Europe for the last few years. But proposals to follow suit in cities such as New York, Boston and Los Angeles have been delayed or rejected as politically unacceptable.

“This is frustrating,” said Kathy Oliver, executive director of Outside-In. “Especially to have gone through every political and funding hurdle to be delayed by this.”