You asked for the eligibility criteria for the ConnPACE program, and specifically wanted to know if there is an asset test.

CONNPACE ELIGIBILITY

ConnPACE pays for prescription drugs, insulin, and insulin syringes and needles for people age 65 and over and younger adults with disabilities. An applicant’s income cannot be more than $ 20,800, if single, or more than $ 28,100 if part of a married couple. (These limits rise each January 1, based on increases in Social Security benefits. They are scheduled to increase by 2. 7% on January 1, 2005. ) There is no asset limit. (PA 04-258 repealed a 2003 law instituting a limit. ) Participants must be state residents for at least six months.

As a result of the new federal Medicare prescription drug legislation (PL 108-173), which, among other things, offers drug discount cards and subsidies for low-income beneficiaries, state law now requires people otherwise eligible for ConnPACE, and who have incomes at or below 135% of the federal poverty level, to obtain an endorsed drug discount card that the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner designates as a condition of participating in ConnPACE. (ConnPACE recipients with income at this level are eligible for $ 600 a year in federal prescription coverage in 2004 and 2005). This requirement will ensure

savings in the ConnPACE program’s budget during these two years. (The law allows the DSS commissioner to require higher-income ConnPACE recipients to get these cards (for which there would be no federal subsidy), but at this juncture, DSS has decided it would not be cost-effective to do so (PA 04-6).

A separate 2004 law requires the lower-income ConnPACE recipients to reapply annually for the discount cards and lets DSS enroll them if they do not choose one (PA 04-101).

For more information about ConnPACE, including an application, go to www. connpace. com.

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