Pennsylvania Lawmakers Warn that Cost-of-Living Increases Could Make Many Seniors Ineligible for Drug Assistance Programs

About 19,500 low-income Pennsylvania seniors could lose their benefits under Pennsylvania's prescription drug assistance program, called Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly, because increases in their Social Security checks will give them incomes too high to qualify for the program, state Senate Democrats have cautioned. A projected 10,800 of the seniors will be cut from PACE because a 3.5% cost-of-living increase in their checks this year will raise their incomes beyond the program's eligibility limit, state Sen. Michael O'Pake (D) said. The state Legislature had approved a moratorium against removing anyone from the program if cost-of-living adjustments made them ineligible, but that provision is set to expire at the end of the year. As a result, 7,000 seniors, who without the moratorium would have lost coverage this year, could be dropped from the program, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Bull, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/6). The moratorium only applies to individuals enrolled before Dec. 31, 2000. Seniors in PACE pay $6 for each prescription and are eligible if they have annual incomes of less than $14,000 per year for an individual and $17,200 for a couple (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/13). Around 1,800 seniors could be dropped from PACE's companion program, PACE NET, which has slightly higher income limits, because they also will experience a cost-of-living adjustment that will raise their incomes over the eligibility limit, the Post-Gazette reports (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/6). PACENET requires participants to pay a $500 annual deductible and $8 for each generic drug and $15 per brand-name medication. Income limits under PACENET are $17,000 for an individual and $20,200 for a couple (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/13). State Senate Democrats this week repeated their calls for the state Legislature to expand the two programs. "The program is dwindling away. It's a life-or-death issue," state Sen. Michael Stack (D) said. However, Republicans have said that Pennsylvania does not have enough money to expand the programs, which they called among "the most generous" in the nation (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/6).