President Barack Obama signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the White House on October 30th.  There are also new rules that are going to be in place.

According to Advocate.com, "The bill -- a product of bipartisan, bicameral compromise -- will fund critical HIV/AIDS treatment and some prevention programs through 2013 at about $2.5 billion annually, a 5% increase for all sections of the act."

President Obama lifted the ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals to North America. Obama said it was a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact". There will be a 60-day waiting period prior to implementation.

The history of the law goes back to when President Reagan was in office. In 1990-1991 the effort to overturn the ban failed. In 2008,  President Bush signed it into law.

Until today, the U.S. was only one of 7 countries who barred people who had AIDS or HIV from coming into the country. The ban was lifted because of what some are calling a better understanding of AIDS and HIV. Some officials are hoping for a more national strategy for fighting AIDS

The Ryan White Act can be described as a "payer of last resort," which fund treatment when no other resources are available for low income or uninsured people.

Ryan White was a teenager who got AIDS through a blood transfusion. (c) tPC