Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Ed Rendell held a press conference at The Casino, Lakemont Park, in Altoona Friday afternoon to discuss his plans on the inability of older Pennsylvanians to afford the rising costs of prescription drugs and what steps he will take to increase funding for PACE and PACENET.
In a letter Rendell addressed to Lieutenant Governor Robert C. Jubelirer he stated that 17,800 seniors currently enrolled in the PACE program, nine percent of the 199,000 active members, are at risk from being dropped from the program because their incomes will have risen too high at the end of this year to continue to qualify.
Another 1,800 people in the PACENET program will also be dropped because a cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security will put them over the eligibility threshold. In addition, Rendell wrote that another 7,000 people could be dropped from the PACE program because the Legislature’s moratorium barring the removal of program participants because of cost-of-living adjustments will expire at the end of the year.
Rendell stated in his letter to Jubelirer, “I write to urge you to extend the present moratorium for these 7,000 older Pennsylvanians and to enact a moratorium for the others who would be dropped from PACE and PACENET at the end of this year. I urge the extension and the new moratorium for a period of six months.”
That moratorium is due to run out December 31, 2002. In total, 26,600 Pennsylvania senior citizens are in danger of losing their prescription drug coverage. Rendell hopes for a quick response to his letter.
Both Rendell and Republican Gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher have pledged to take immediate steps, if elected, to increase funding for PACE and PACENET, noting that an increase will allow income eligibility limits to be increased enough to allow all of the affected Pennsylvanians to retain their eligibility.
One of Rendell’s ideas to increase funding for PACE and PACENET is to get the federal government, the Health Finance Agency, to give Pennsylvania a waiver like the State of Illinois received, so that Pennsylvania tobacco money, which is used to buy prescription drug help, can be leveraged off of federal funds.
“If we get that waiver as Illinois did, 150,000 additional Pennsylvanians will get coverage under the PACE program,” said Rendell. “That will be more than enough to keep the 26,600 people that I’m talking about, still in the program.”
Rendell also stated that the PA Lottery is a source of the PACE and PACENET funds. According to Rendell, Pennsylvania has a badly under performing lottery. Last year the lottery produced 1.9 billion dollars in sales, but in comparison with the State of Massachusetts, which has less than half the population of Pennsylvania, produced three billion dollars in sales.
Rendell noted, “If we would just go up to Massachusetts level, that would be an additional 1.1 billion, 300 million dollars that could be eligible for the PACE program. For every 100 million dollars, we can cover another 42,000 Pennsylvanians.”
He added, “If we could achieve that it would cover another 125,000 Pennsylvanians on top of the 150,000 that we can cover be getting the Illinois waiver.”
Rendell said that his idea to regenerate sales of the lottery could be accomplished by adding 2500 new retailers, which would dramatically increase the take of the PA Lottery. He noted, “We use to have over 9,000 lottery retailers 15 years ago, but today that number has dropped to 7,000.”
Rendell also stated that adding more instant ticket vending machines (scratch off games) located in better situated areas and by having mid-day drawings that are more convenient for older Pennsylvanians would likewise regenerate sales with the lottery.
He stated, “We’re going to produce enough money in the next six months of next year that there’s no need to drop these 26,000 people, because if we cut them we’ll be only taking them back later on. Anything can happen in six months if you have to go without a blood pressure reducing prescription drug or a cholesterol reducing prescription drug – it can be fatal by cutting these people from the program.”
Rendell was in Altoona for another reason as well. He received labor endorsements of six rail unions. Dave Bender, District Chairman of the Transportation/Communications Union (The Railroad Union), was in attendance to publicly state the endorsement.
“Our members would like to endorse Ed Rendell one hundred percent for Governor of Pennsylvania,” said Bender. Other local rail union endorsements shared by Bender for Rendell included: The Transportation Workers Union Local 2017, The Brotherhood Electrical Workers Local 2273, The Firemen and Oilers Local 1216, The Boilermakers and Blacksmiths Local 1393, and The Sheet Metal Workers Local 525.
Rendell responded, “I want to thank them for the endorsement; I think it is extremely meaningful. These are unions that know how to work, know how to roll up their sleeves, know how to reach their own members, and know how to reach their retirees.”
“We have to grow our economy and there’s no better example than with our railroads,” said Rendell. “Railroads could be one of the keys to the comeback of Pennsylvania. We have a chance to be a great distribution and transportation center for the eastern half of our country.”
Rendell ended by stating, “The way to revitalize an economy is to invest in growth. We can make a better Pennsylvania. It’s a message that I think will help us realize the promise of Pennsylvania.”
