PRINTER'S NO. 140
No. 46 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY WALKO, EACHUS, VEON, DeWEESE AND SURRA,
FEBRUARY 6, 2003
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, FEBRUARY 6, 2003
A RESOLUTION
1 Requesting the Department of Aging to file an application with
2 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to secure an
3 acceptable Medicare Demonstration Project to provide
4 additional moneys through Medicare savings to the
5 pharmaceutical assistance programs to expand and enhance
6 pharmaceutical coverage for low-income seniors while
7 protecting the viability of the PACE and PACENET programs.
8 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth has been providing pharmaceutical
9 assistance coverage for low-income senior citizens for almost 20
10 years; and
11 WHEREAS, State Lottery Fund revenues and tobacco funds
12 support the Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly
13 (PACE) and the Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the
14 Elderly Needs Enhancement Tier (PACENET) programs; and
15 WHEREAS, These programs have saved and will continue to save
16 millions of dollars in costs as a result of hospitalization and
17 nursing care facility institutionalization for many individuals
18 being prevented or delayed because enrollees have been kept
19 healthy with their needed prescription medications; and
20 WHEREAS, The Federal Government and pharmaceutical companies
1 have recognized the potential value of providing pharmaceutical
2 assistance coverage to low-income seniors; and
3 WHEREAS, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has
4 offered the Department of Aging a Medicare Demonstration Project
5 that proposes Medicare cost offsets and savings be used to
6 expand enrollment while assessing coordinated care and disease
7 management programs with a pharmaceutical benefit; and
8 WHEREAS, The Department of Aging has completed an initial
9 study that shows a significant savings to the Medicare program
10 by pharmaceutical assistance to the elderly through the PACE and
11 PACENET programs; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives request the
13 Department of Aging to file an application with the Centers for
14 Medicare and Medicaid Services to secure an acceptable Medicare
15 Demonstration Project to provide additional moneys through
16 Medicare savings to the pharmaceutical assistance programs to
17 enhance and expand pharmaceutical coverage for low-income
18 seniors while protecting the viability of the PACE and PACENET
19 programs and file with the House of Representatives within 60
20 days a report of the department's progress in the application
21 process.
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