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The Health Subcommittee focused on three specific Medicare proposals that President Obama included in his fiscal 2014 budget: establishing a home health copay, increasing the annual Part B deductible, and increasing means-testing measures for Parts B and D. Most Subcommittee Members, along with the expert panel, expressed their disapproval of all three options, stating that they would simply shift costs to seniors instead of targeting the root of the problem. Instead, many suggested that they focus on reforming the delivery system to better reward quality medical care..Here is a big part of the answer. An analysis by Stat News of campaign finance records shows that the pharmaceutical industry donated to more than two-thirds of Congress as well as 2,467 state lawmakers during the last campaign cycle -- to the tune of over million..On Monday evening, Senator John Cornyn told reporters that the Senate's bill would include major differences from the House version. He said: "We're going to start from scratch, really. It's helpful for us to have [House lawmakers] go first to see the kind of issues that come up and anticipate those in the Finance Committee markup. But I'm still pretty optimistic we'll get this done before Thanksgiving.".According to the lobbying arm of the major drug companies, in 2018, nearly half of the money spent on brand medicines went to some business other than the research companies that discover and manufacture medicines.."Notch Babies are now at the age where they are more likely to have chronic health problems and require multiple prescriptions," says TSCL Chairman Larry Hyland. "They are finding it difficult to make their lower benefits cover rising Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs, let alone all their other rising costs. The time has come to settle this," Hyland says..Following the hearing, The Senior Citizens League submitted a proposal for strengthening and improving the DI program. We recommended the following seven policy changes based on the results of several surveys of TSCL's supporters:."Medicare And The Federal Budget, Comparison of Medicare Provisions," Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2013..The report looked at five prescription drugs and found that drug companies slightly alter the formulas in those drugs, allowing them to extend their patents on the new formulations, and delay the move to the generic drug marketplace..Three Key Bills Gain Support