WILKES-BARRE — The Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDA) this week announced that two bills signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf will renew the Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) program and the Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly Needs Enhancement Tier (PACENET) cost-of-living moratorium, expand income eligibility and eliminate the PACENET premium “clawback.”
House Bill 1260, sponsored by Reps. Wendi Thomas and Steve Samuelson, and House Bill 291, sponsored by Rep. Shelby Labs, were both PDA legislative priorities for the 2021-22 legislative session.
H.B. 291 — now Act 92 of 2021 — extends the moratorium until December 31, 2023 to allow enrollees to maintain their PACE/PACENET benefits despite disqualifying increases in their overall income due to Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). The original moratorium was set to expire December 31, 2021.
H.B. 1260 — now Act 94 of 2021 — expands the income eligibility limits for PACENET and removes the PACENET premium clawback, which will result in premium cost savings for some enrollees. The clawback will only apply to those individuals enrolled in the program’s Part D partner plans. This will reduce the premium obligation for about 28,000 individuals.
The law expands the PACENET income limits by $6,000:
Singles: from $27,500 to $33,500
Married: from $35,500 to $41,500
PACE and PACENET currently enroll more than 250,000 older Pennsylvanians. The income limit expansions mean that an...
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