Ryan White, the Indiana teenager who had been barred from school because he had AIDS, died on April 8, 1990, at 18. Two weeks after his death, his mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, traveled to Washington to urge Congress to pass legislation that would bear his name. Both houses passed it by wide bipartisan margins, and on August 18, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, Public Law 101 381, into law.

The law was written to help states, communities and families cope with the growing impact of the epidemic. It funds systems of care for people with HIV and AIDS who do not have adequate health insurance or other resources, and it is administered by the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA. Unlike Medicaid and Medicare, it is a discretionary program rather than an entitlement, and it was first adopted for five years. The 1990 law required that people living with HIV be…