Nov. 21, 2017
HARRISBURG – The House today unanimously passed legislation intended to prevent contact letters for PACE and PACENET benefits from being sent to dead persons, according to the bill’s author, Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon).
“This bill came about after letters for state benefits were sent to families of persons who are deceased,” said Diamond. “This legislation would require better coordination between the Pennsylvania Departments of Aging and Health. Mistakes do happen, but a more thorough communication effort between the departments can help reduce the instances from happening.”
This issue came to Diamond’s attention when a letter came for his late father soliciting an application for SNAP benefits. The problem was, his father had been deceased for two years.
“We need to be steadfast in monitoring these valuable services and be certain that someone would not use a dead person’s identity to take benefits from the Commonwealth,” said Diamond.” I have been working to help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in our critical funding programs, and this is another step in that direction.”
Diamond said he appreciated the strong bipartisan support that
House Bill 1588 received.
Representative Russ Diamond
102nd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Raymond Smith
717.705.1834
rsmith@pahousegop.com
RepDiamond.com /
Facebook.com/RepDiamond
The bill goes to the Senate for consideration.