CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Tennessee's assistance program for people with HIV and AIDS has a waiting list for the first time since it started in the early 1990s.

Health officials told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the drug- and insurance-assistance program has reached its capacity because of increased costs for many living with the disease and an increase in the number of people with HIV or AIDS.

The state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program provides funding to help low-income people with HIV and AIDS receive medical services and costly drugs.

In the face of the recession, more people with HIV or AIDS are losing their jobs and health insurance, said Dr. Carolyn Wester, the state's medical director for HIV-AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

Wester said the program fortunately has "had a chance to plan."

She said most people will have access to pharmaceutical companies' programs and hopefully federal assistance. Pregnant women and infants who have not yet enrolled will be allowed temporary emergency enrollment, she said. The program is not cutting services for enrollees.

Tennessee is now among nine states with a waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The others are Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

The AIDS drug assistance is part of the Ryan White program, authorized in 1990, that provides HIV-related health services. In June, enrollment in the state's drug-assistance program hit 3,367, compared to 2,706 last year. Federal and state funding for the program in 2009 totals $25.3 million and has only slightly increased since 2005, Wester said.

"Our No. 1 goal is to continue to provide access to high-quality HIV-related services and medications to as many individuals in Tennessee as possible," Wester said.