Senate unanimously votes to expand low-cost drug program for seniors

A Mercer County lawmaker helped write the original PACE legislation.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The Senate unanimously approved a bill to expand eligibility for the state's low-cost pharmaceutical program for senior citizens, proposing to extend benefits to thousands of additional people who would qualify under a bill previously endorsed by the House of Representatives.
The bill, approved Tuesday, has been the subject of political wrangling for months, with Democrats pushing to get it passed into law and Senate Republicans delaying action to see how a federal Medicare prescription drug bill in Congress might affect the state's Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly programs.
But with the Medicare changes still up in the air, Senate Republicans decided to move ahead with the state bill, which would raise income limits on Jan. 1 for the state programs, commonly known as PACE and PACENET.
"This action will make sure that senior citizens currently relying on PACE and PACENET for prescription drug coverage continue to be covered, and it will bring prescription drug assistance to 125,000 seniors who are not currently covered," said state Sen. Robert D. Robbins of Greenville, R-50th.
As a member of the state House in 1983, Robbins was on the House Finance Committee that wrote the original PACE legislation. Former Gov. Tom Ridge added PACENET in 1996.
Tom Snedden, the executive director of PACE and PACENET, expressed support for the bill.
What's next
The Senate and House must reach agreement before a bill can go to Gov. Ed Rendell.
House members will assess the changes when they reconvene next month. The House passed its version of the bill unanimously in June.
Under the Senate bill, at least 350,000 additional seniors would become eligible for PACE and PACENET benefits, although only about 115,000 are expected to sign up, said J. Andrew Crompton, an aide to Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair.
To pay for the broader income limits in the Senate bill, senators would require generic-drug manufacturers to pay higher rebates than the House bill requires. They also would draw money from the national tobacco settlement that currently subsidizes prescription drugs for seniors whose Social Security payments keep their incomes just above the limit for PACENET eligibility, Crompton said.
The House bill is projected to boost the cost of PACE and PACENET by $320 million over five years. The Senate bill would eventually add another $10 million to $15 million a year, Crompton said.
The figures
Currently, about 224,000 seniors are enrolled in the programs at a cost of about $400 million, which is financed by state lottery revenue.
Under the bill, the income limits for participants in PACE, which has no deductible, would increase from $14,000 to $14,500 for individuals and from $17,200 to $17,700 for married couples.
The income limits for PACENET, a related program for seniors with higher incomes that kicks in after participants pay the first $500 of their drug costs each year, would change from $17,000 to $23,500 for individuals and from $20,200 to $31,500 for couples.
Additionally, the PACENET deductible would be changed from $500 annually to $40 per month.
To help pay for the increased benefits, the PACE co-payment amount would increase from $6 to $9 per prescription for name-brand drugs, but the $6 co-pay for generic drugs would remain intact, Snedden said. PACENET participants have a higher co-payment -- $8 and $15, respectively -- which would not change.