Helping Oz. Pk. Srs. Make Sense Of It
State Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., is co-sponsoring a “Changes to EPIC” lecture on Thursday, Feb. 7 at Nativity B.V.M./St. Stan’s Senior Center, which meets monthly on the first and third Thursdays in the basement at 101-41 91st St. in Ozone Park.
Joining the lecture will be Gema Diaz, a representative from the NYS Department of Health’s Medicare- EPIC Program, Gema Diaz.
The series began last summer and continued through October 2012 at senior centers around the senator’s district and covers the changes to New York’s Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) prescription drug program, now that the 2012-13 state budget restored $30.6 million.
This will reinstate co-payment assistance for almost 300,000 EPIC enrollees, thereby returning the EPIC program to two plans again.
One year ago, more than a quarter of a million seniors around our state were affected by major cuts to New York’s Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) prescription drug program. Consequently, EPIC provided prescription-drug coverage only after a member fell into the Medicare prescription coverage gap (the “doughnut hole”) when the total drug costs for an individual reached $2,930.
Currently, seniors enrolled in the EPIC program are forced to pay 25 percent of the cost of each prescription drug. With the co-payment assistance restored, enrollees will return to paying no more than $20 co-payment for each prescription.
All EPIC members will be notified of the changes, and how they will be affected, by letter. Eligibility requirements remain the same: membrs must be state residents, 65 or older, with income up to $35,000 if single or $50,000 if married.
Applicants cannot be receiving full Medicaid benefits but may have a Medicaid spend-down. If a member cancels their Medicare Part D coverage, they will not receive any benefits from EPIC and coverage may be canceled. Members must have Part D in order to receive EPIC benefits and maintain EPIC coverage.
For more information, call Addabbo’s district offices at Howard Beach (1-718-738-1111) or Middle Village (1-718-497-1630).
