One of my bills would also increase insurance options for older Americans who are not yet age 6While the Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded insurance coverage, and limited insurers' ability to charge older Americans higher premiums, we can do a lot more to increase options and affordability. My Medicare-X Choice Act would expand on the Medicare framework to create a new public insurance plan for people of all ages..While TSCL strongly agrees that the time has come for Congress to take action on Social Security and Medicare, we question whether rescue committees would work as desired. Over the past 25 years there have been numerous committees and commissions that developed contentious plans to change Social Security and Medicare. None have been successful in getting their plans adopted as major legislation..Petition to Congress: No Budget Deal that Sells Out America's Seniors.When You Can't Afford Your Prescription Drugs, Apply For "Extra Help".According to the Senior Citizens League, recipients of Social Security have seen a 30 percent decrease in their buying power since 2000. Additionally, seniors who are enrolled in Medicare Part B programs or own homes have faced particularly large cost increases. This is because COLAs have not kept up with the increase in seniors' expenses and it is simply unacceptable. This needs to change..The Committee has held two additional hearings on prescription drug prices. In July, the Committee heard directly from patients who are unable to afford their prescription drugs. Two of the witnesses at that hearing were Medicare beneficiaries who were prescribed a cancer drug priced at more than ,000 per month..Next week on January 24th the Senate Finance Committee will be holding a formal confirmation hearing to question Congressman Price. TSCL will be monitoring discussions about the ACA and the future of the Medicare program, and we will post a summary of the hearing here in the Legislation News section of our website..The House has been working on the other funding bills but whether or not they are able to pass any of them before the August break is uncertain. So far, the Senate has not managed to pass any of the needed funding bills..Meditation and yogNew research has found that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain - in a very protective way. Just a couple of weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training, developed by the University of Massachusetts' Center for Mindfulness, improves concentration and attention since strong focus of attention is one of the central techniques. Meditation training has long been used as a technique for reducing blood pressure, stress and anxiety and also has helped people quit smoking by learning to "decouple" the state of craving from the act of smoking.
