H-1170.2  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1774

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Pennington, Conway, Skinner, Cody, Ballasiotes, Schual‑Berke, Campbell, Darneille, Anderson, Armstrong, Roach, Talcott, Edwards, Wood, Schoesler, Santos, Esser, Dunn, Casada, Bush and Mulliken

Read first time 02/02/2001.  Referred to Committee on Health Care.

Creating the senior pharmacy assistance program.

    AN ACT Relating to creating a senior pharmacy assistance program; and adding a new section to chapter 41.05 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 41.05 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The administrator must establish a senior pharmacy assistance program in accordance with the provisions of this section.  The senior pharmacy assistance program provides financial assistance to eligible individuals for the purchase of prescription drugs.

    (2) Individuals sixty-five years old and older with a household income over one hundred seventy-five percent of the federal poverty guidelines are eligible for the senior pharmacy assistance program if they:

    (a) Do not qualify for any other local, state, or federal prescription drug program;

    (b) Are not covered under any private prescription reimbursement plan;

    (c) Have not voluntarily canceled a local, state, or federal prescription drug program or a private prescription reimbursement plan within the six months prior to application for enrollment in the senior pharmacy assistance program; and

    (d) Pay a coinsurance amount of thirty percent.

    (3) Each eligible individual may receive a maximum annual drug benefit of one thousand two hundred dollars.

    (4) The administrator must adopt rules necessary to implement the senior pharmacy assistance program, including the prescription drugs eligible for reimbursement under the senior pharmacy assistance program, the amount of the pharmacy dispensing fee, procedures for limiting enrollment, selecting participating pharmacies, and establishing a period of open enrollment that may not be less than thirty days, including an enrollment period for those who become age eligible during the year.

    (5) If the administrator determines that the funds appropriated for the senior pharmacy assistance program are not sufficient to serve all individuals who qualify for assistance, the administrator must take those steps necessary to limit program expenditures to an amount equal to appropriated funds.

    (6) The administrator may contract for the operation of the senior pharmacy assistance program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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