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By Representative Elijah E. Cummings."When we raise prices, they mess with people's ability to make good decisions about their health," said Ziad Obermeyer, co-author of the study and associate professor of health policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. "Those decisions lead to more people dying - health costs need to be priced into these cost-sharing policies.".This week, lawmakers in the House remained in their home districts to continue the summer recess. They are expected to return to Capitol Hill next Tuesday, September 4th. In the days ahead, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and hosting town hall meetings in their home districts. The Senior Citizens League encourages its supporters to attend these events and to ask important questions of their elected officials, like the following five..President Obama recently announced a series of Executive Actions to protect an estimated 4.9 million illegal immigrants from deportation. This month the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is expected to start taking applications as hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants begin to apply for deportation relief, work authorization, and Social Security numbers..About 28% of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans. United Health Care, the largest Medicare Advantage insurer in the nation, recently dramatically cut the number of doctors in its plans this year. TSCL remains highly concerned that more plans will follow suit next year as successive cuts kick in..The program was designed to address the needs of low–income seniors, who receive both Medicare and Medicaid. The group includes the oldest, sickest and poorest of seniors, including many Notch Babies, who tend to have multiple health problems, including the need for long term care. Although they make up only 15 percent of all Medicaid beneficiaries, they account for almost 40 percent of Medicaid expenditures, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured..and if your drug plan doesn't cover it, or drops coverage, you may want to go.But our fight to protect seniors doesn't stop there. My bill also ends the nonsensical practice of "double taxation" on Social Security benefits for middle class seniors. Currently, many seniors pay taxes when they receive their Social Security benefits, even though they were taxed to create those benefits throughout their working lives. That's wrong! Providing a tax cut to middle class seniors while increasing the sustainability of Social Security is something everyone in Congress can and should agree on..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.