Senior safeguards move ahead

(The Center Square) – The House Aging and Older Adult Services committee advanced two bills safeguarding Pennsylvania seniors to the House floor.

The first, House Bill 372 will require the state’s Area Agencies on Aging, or triple As, to publish more data on their compliance with Department of Aging regulations.

The reporting requirements, legislators say, would assist them in making determinations about future programming and funding. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-2026 budget proposal includes $2.95 million from the state’s lottery fund toward the administration’s 10-year “Aging Our Way” plan.

The proposed legislation follows questioning during the agency’s hearing before the House Appropriations committee, which prompted the publication of data on visits that follow reports of need filed to the agency.

“This is a good first step, but the compliance data should be expanded to provide a full picture of how the AAA is providing services to our communities,” wrote the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Louis Schmitt, R-Altoona.

For monitoring Triple A’s, the department has recently implemented a new system called the Comprehensive Aging Performance Evaluation which Department of Aging Secretary Jason Kavulich says has created a process allowing for better outcomes when Triple A’s are in violation of their mandate.

Through the new monitoring process, the department is creating cooperative agreements with Triple A’s. With the agreements in place, the state will be better able to take remedial and, when necessary, punitive actions against Triple A’s who are failing or endangering the senior population. As it stands, the only punitive option available is to withhold funding, which would take much needed services away from seniors.

“Our Department is pleased to see this bill advance out of committee, which aligns with our own publicly stated commitment to providing greater public transparency by posting AAA performance on our website,” said Kavulich in a statement following the vote.

He continued, “While working steadily on a much-needed major overhaul of the Department’s performance monitoring system, we have also worked closely with Representative Schmitt and the Committee to make sure that the legislation reflects the metrics and terminology established in the new system.”

The second bill addressed the Pharmaceutical Assistance for the Elderly, or PACE, program. The program helps to reduce out-of-pocket medication costs for low-income seniors.

Every two years, the legislature votes to extend a Social Security cost of living adjustment moratorium, allowing seniors whose income has increased due to an increase in social security payments to continue their enrollment in the program.

“The lottery proceeds are reviewed every two years, so it’s a more transparent way to make the decision whether to extend the moratorium or not,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Nikki Rivera, D-Lancaster.

According to Rivera, the 2.5% 2025 cost of living adjustment would cost 10,039 PACENET enrollees their coverage. “Additionally, 12,594 PACE enrollees would move to PACENET, losing their lower copayment and their PACE-paid Part D premium.”

Both bills passed the committee unanimously.