(The Center Square) – With the insurance premiums rising and the threat of Medicaid cuts on the horizon, concerns over health care costs are top of mind for Pennsylvania taxpayers.
State programs PACE and PACENET supplement insurance coverage to help low- and fixed-income seniors pay for the cost of prescription drugs.
Many of the seniors the program serves receive social security as a primary form of income. With Social Security, however, comes cost-of-living adjustments. Those adjustments can push seniors out of eligibility for the program. That’s why the legislature passed a bill extending the Social Security COLA moratorium for enrollees in 2023.
“PACE and PACENET are true lifesavers for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania seniors, and so are Social Security cost-of-living adjustments,” Rep. Nikki Rivera, D-Lancaster, said. “Our seniors should not have to stress over whether they can maintain eligibility for a program that helps them afford their prescription medications simply because the government has rightfully adjusted Social Security to keep up with the cost of living.”
A bill co-sponsored by Rivera and Rep. Shelby Labs, R-Doylestown, extending the moratorium for another two years is on its way to the governor’s desk. It received unanimous support in both the House and Senate.
PACE is funded by the Pennsylvania Lottery. The moratorium allows 10,039 PACENET enrollees to maintain their eligibility. It also prevents 12,594 PACE enrollees from having to move to PACENET, which would result in the loss of their lower copayments and the PACE-paid Part D premium.
“Our prescription drug programs help keep people from going into medical debt or giving up their treatments because they can’t afford their medicines,” said Rivera. “Supporting our seniors in ways like this legislation does is easily achievable if we work together and put people’s interests ahead of partisan politics. I’m delighted that my colleagues in the House and Senate saw the wisdom in that and supported the legislation before it was too late.”
The bill is among many heading to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk before year’s end after a legislative session overshadowed by the budget impasse.
