What I found particularly interesting was this comment by the illustrious Mayor. Rep. Eachus has fought tirelessly for senior citizens, expanding the state's prescription drug program for seniors not once, but twice. If I was Rush Limbaugh I would be laughing hysterically on that statement.
Let's get to the facts. We will start with this chart from the Department of Aging.
Todd Eachus was elected to the House in 1996 according to his bio. From 1996 to 2002 look how the number of seniors on PACE/PACENET nosedives to 218,922. Robert Casey's terms as Governor and the Democrats witnessed the amount of older Pennsylvanians who received PACE or PACENET take a dramatic decline. It should be noted that there was a dramatic increase in recipients during Dick Thornburgh's tenure as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1984 through 1987. During Tom Ridge's term as governor there wasn't a dramatic loss of seniors on the program. Ridge actually increased the income limits during his term in July, 2001. One must keep in mind that it was a Repubican House that restored those seniors to the program. So much for the Democrats taking the credit for helping seniors in Pennsylvania.
Look at Chart No 2. Rendell did sign legislation to dramatically increase the number of seniors akcnowledging Eachus's role just to be fair. However, if you read the press release you will notice that the co-pay for brand drugs took a 50% jump from $6.00 to $9.00. You know what else took a 50% jump? Eachus's pension.
The increase of the number of seniors on PACE or PACENET increased to 291,241 by 2004 but a far cry from 477,772. Isn't it amazing how they can make you feel good about something that is really bad. Over 186,000 people lost PACE or PACENET through 2002 and they want you to rejoice over the fact that they added 69,679. They called it an expansion. I call it restoring, restoring those who were lost on the Democrat's watch.
Let's look at Chart No. 3.
Notice the income limits on the right hand column. Let's fast forward to 2009 and look at the PACE website. Here are the income limits. Eligibility is also determined by your previous calendar year’s income. For a single person, your total income must be $14,500 or less. For a married couple, your combined total income must be $17,700 or less. As you can see they are the exact same amount as in 2002. There is no Cost Of Living Adjustment(COLA)on income like the legislators have for their salary. That means as Social Security payments increase people automatically lose their benefit and there is nothing they can do about it.
If you look closely at the chart you will notice that income level eligibility only increased by $500.00 or 3.6 percent. The legislative salary in 2002 was 61889.00. Over at PAWatercooler.com there is a great post about the salary grab of 2008. Base salary in 2008 increased on December 1st to $78,315.00. There was a zero increase in eligibility for PACE/PACENET recipients. It boggles the mind how Eachus can claim he is the champion of seniors. Todd, it's called wagging the dog.
Mayor Wittig, or better to the person who authored the letter, show me the "expansion". Today the number of people on PACE/PACENET according to the Department of Aging is 304,725, not 330,000 that the second chart projected would make the program. The program severly retracted and never helped the number of seniors who were helped during Dick Thornburgh's reign as governor.
FACT, FACT, and FACT not the fiction Todd Eachus wants people to eat at his table of the not so plenty. His spin on events borders on incorrigible.
Finally look at the Governor's Report on State Performance 2007-2008. I point you to page 98. The average price of a PACE prescription went down from $44.42 in 2005-06 to $26.09 in 2007-08. The average price of a PACENET prescription went down from $38.20 in 2005-06 to $27.24 in 2007-08. Folks that is a 29-42% decrease in the cost to the state. What are they doing with the excess money? Raiding the Lottery Fund for the General Fund??? If you go back to Chart No.2 you will see that the amount of seniors on the program from 2004 to 2008 did not change dramatically.
TODD EACHUS's claims are bogus and it is time to call him out on it.
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