SeniorCare is one step closer to being renewed for a few more years.
Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith says the application to extend the state’s popular low-cost prescription drug program for the elderly has advanced to the next phase of the approval process after meeting the initial requirements.
Governor Scott Walker had asked the federal government for the three-year extension a month and a half ago to keep SeniorCare going through 2015. The current waiver expires at the end of this year.
SeniorCare is an efficient, cost-effective choice for Wisconsin seniors. In a statement today, Governor Walker said he is “pleased to hear we are one step closer to renewing the program for the tens of thousands of Wisconsin parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors who depend on it.”
The next step in the application process is a 30-day federal comment period that ends on November 8, 2012. If approved, the renewal will keep the program intact through 2015.
About 87,000 low-income senior citizens over the age of 65 get their medicines from SeniorCare. The 10-year-old program (created in 2001 Wisconsin Act 16) requires an annual $30 enrollment fee, with a $5 co-pay for generics and $15 for name brand drugs. State officials say SeniorCare reduced drug costs for Wisconsin seniors by approximately $114 million in 2011.
For information about SeniorCare, call the SeniorCare hotline at (800) 657‐2038 or visit their website.
