For Wendell Kirkbride, who has lived with AIDS for 17 years, the cuts will either eliminate his ability to fight off the deadly viral pneumonia that stalks people with AIDS or stack more people on a list "waiting for me to die so they can take my place."

State officials and AIDS patient advocates were made aware recently of the impact that reduced budget increases and new distribution formulas for the "Ryan White" funding will have on Utah.

The program, named after an 11-year-old hemophiliac who died from AIDS after receiving tainted blood from a transfusion, provides stop-gap money for services not covered by Medicaid or Medicare and mostly goes for treatment of HIV-positive patients to prevent the onslaught of AIDS. But AIDS patients, such as Kirkbride, also benefit from the program.

"This money keeps me alive," says the 39-year-old former computer programmer who lives in a Salt Lake City apartment on medical disability payments. "It also buys me an essential protein drink that keeps me from dropping below 95 pounds, pays for dental care, for counseling and for transportation to doctors and clinics."

Utah Department of Health Director David Sundwall says the changes are expected to reduce the state's $3.2 million Ryan White appropriation by about 12 percent this fiscal year.

"This is an emotional issue. If you don't have those drugs you die," said Sundwall. "They are expensive anti-viral medications, but through Ryan White we can get them at bargain prices.

"Most of the people these help are working, taxpaying, productive members of society. We can now treat this as a chronic illness, like diabetes. But we need these medications."

The Ryan White funds flow through the Utah Department of Health, which distributes them to health care facilities that serve the eligible patients.

Program advocate Stuart Merrill says 30 to 40 Utah families will be immediately affected by the cuts and as many as 200 could eventually lose their access to life-saving medication.

Merrill says he has notified several legislators of the impending crisis. Democratic members of the Executive Appropriations Committee say they will try today to get an appropriation inserted in the state budget to cover the lost federal funds.

"This is one of those programs that seems to have fallen between the cracks," said House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City. In some of these cases, the person is not eligible to get anti-viral drugs under Medicaid unless that person already has AIDS. But these drugs are intended to prevent them from getting AIDS.

"It's not that often where what we do is a matter of life or death," Becker said. "This is one of those times."

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, the Executive Appropriations Committee co-chairman, says it will be difficult because the budget is nearly completed, with most of the state's available revenues already earmarked.

"The committee has to have the budget completed by Friday so it can go to printing and be ready for debate in the Senate and House during the final days of the session next week," Hillyard said. "We may have about $1 million on the table, but whatever new items are introduced will compete with $2 million to $3 million worth of appropriations for bills that are yet unfunded."

Pamela Atkinson, a longtime champion for low-income and homeless people and a co-chairwoman of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s transition team, says she will lobby the governor and legislators to find the money. "It's going to be hard, though, because they have been putting the budget together for weeks and the chairs of all the appropriations subcommittees have already cemented their priorities."

Sundwall says he personally will advocate for the Legislature's replenishment of the reduced federal allocation, but he has yet to discuss the issue with the governor to assess the administration's position.

The director said some of the program administrators in the Health Department worry that if the state comes up with the funding, federal bureaucrats might decide Utah doesn't need more allocations in the future.

"This may be the tip of iceberg," said Senate Minority Leader Ron Allen, R-Stansbury Park. "I am concerned that the Bush administration is trying to balance the federal budget on the backs of the states, and programs we have come to count on will begin to disappear."