All posts by rebecca

Poll: Seniors Would Cross Party Lines to Vote for Candidates Who Support Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

More than 70 percent of voters over age 65 say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who favors allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug corporations to lower prescription drug prices, including strong majorities across party lines, according to a new poll released to... Read more

American Medical Debt Twice as High as Previously Thought, Concentrated in States Without Medicaid Expansion

New research published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association finds that collection agencies held $140 billion in unpaid medical bills last year - a number that has grown rapidly in just a few years. An earlier study examining debts in 2016 estimated that Amer... Read more

Senate Holds Hearing on PRO Act, Proponents Drum Up Support

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee held a hearing Thursday morning on H.R. 842, the PRO Act. This bill would protect the rights of workers to unionize in several ways. In her opening statement, Sen. Patty Murray (WA), Committee Chairwoman, railed ag... Read more

56th Anniversary of Medicare Brings Fight to Lower Drug Prices into High Gear

Americans continue to pay the highest prices in the industrialized world for prescription drugs, and as Medicare’s 56th anniversary approaches on July 30, the pharmaceutical industry is spending millions to protect their sky-high profits. More than 54 million seniors rely on... Read more

Texas State Legislators Flee the State to Preserve Voting Rights

Fifty-one of the 67 Democrats in Texas’ state legislature fled the state on Monday to deny the Republican-controlled body the quorum needed to pass a bill that would make it harder for seniors and minority voters to exercise their right to vote. Two flights were chartered from ... Read more

President Biden Signs Executive Order Targeting High Drug Prices

Last Friday, President Biden signed an executive order to address high drug prices while Congress works on legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. The executive order: Authorizes federal agencies to import prescription drugs from Ca... Read more

Senate Democrats Announce Package to Expand Medicare to Include Dental, Hearing and Vision Benefits

On Tuesday night, top Senate Democrats came to terms on a blueprint for a massive $3.5 trillion budget resolution to pair with a proposed $600 billion bipartisan physical infrastructure plan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) confirmed that funding to add dental, visio... Read more

Ageism Costs the Economy Trillions

A new report from AARP found that age discrimination cost the U.S. economy $850 billion in lost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, and that number appears to be increasing over time. The researchers calculated the loss in productivity due to older Americans not finding work or... Read more

Congressional Democrats Eye Multiple Paths to Medicare Improvement

Congressional Democrats are seeking to include vision, dental and hearing coverage in Medicare in new legislation rolled out this week. The bill, announced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX), would initially add preventive dental, hearing and vision care to Medicare Part B and later expa... Read more