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This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate remained in their home states and districts to continue the holiday recess. They are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, July 10th. In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and hosting town hall meetings around the country..This is from STAT News, a company that "delivers trusted and authoritative journalism about health, medicine, and the life sciences..TSCL is urging older Americans to fight back. "We encourage you to send email, postcards, or call Members of Congress to let them know that COLA cuts are not to be used to finance a border wall with Mexico, or as a bargaining chip for reducing the federal debt," says TSCL Executive Director, Shannon Benton..Refinancing a mortgage in retirement is a "special needs" situation. TSCL highly recommends that this should be discussed with an unbiased financial advisor..Last year the Senate was a bigger problem when dealing with passing legislation but there still may be hope this year for a bi-partisan bill authored by Senators Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley. "The bill would cap seniors' drug costs and penalize drugmakers for raising prices too fast - a provision that many Republicans have likened to price controls. It would save the government a projected billion over a decade, far less than the 0 billion-plus under the House negotiation bill," according to Politico..Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee Means Committee approved the largest expansion of Medicare since the addition of drug benefits two decades ago..The Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed a proposal that would boost the taxable amount of Social Security benefits, as one of the options for Congress to consider to reduce the federal deficit. The proposal, which the CBO has reviewed in prior versions of its Options to Reduce the Deficit, would tax Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits the same way that distributions from defined benefit pensions are taxed. This is expected to increase the taxable income of older Americans..About one quarter of all Medicare beneficiaries are covered by Medigap polices. Out-of-pocket costs under Medicare are considerable, and most beneficiaries supplement their coverage either by purchasing a Medigap policy or joining a Medicare Advantage plan. Unlike Medicare Advantage, however, Medigap enrollees in most states are not able to switch to another Medigap policy during fall open enrollment, because insurers are not required to cover pre-existing conditions outside of the individual's initial enrollment period. Seventy-two percent of survey participants support extending guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions to Medigap, allowing Medigap enrollees greater freedom to switch to other, less costly, Medigap plans..High Dose Flu Vaccine