Senate Moves on Medicare Legislation

Next week the Senate is expected to take up legislation to make long overdue improvements to the Medicare program. A bipartisan package of reforms developed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) would add critical beneficiary protections to the Part D prescription drug benefit and require parity for cost sharing for outpatient mental health services.

Action Required
Advocates are strongly encouraged to contact their senators to urge them to support the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act (S 3101). Remind your senators that S 3101 would:

* Address the discriminatory 50% cost sharing requirement for outpatient mental illness treatment, gradually lowering it to 20% as required for all other medical treatment,
* Amend the Medicare Part D benefit to ensure that prescription drug plan must maintain broad access on their formularies to medications to treat serious mental illness (including antipsychotics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants),
* Restore coverage under Part D for benzodiazepines,
* Enact a series of reforms that would allow more low-income beneficiaries to qualify for the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and thereby avoid the program’s “doughnut hole” coverage gap, and
* Expand the Medicare rural hospital FLEX program to authorize grants to increase access to mental illness treatment services for veterans in rural and frontier communities.

For further info CLICK HERE.

JOIN THE DAILY STRENGTH CHALLENGE

Image via WikipediaThe DAILY STRENGTH Charity Challenge – Raise $1,000 For Your Charity!
FROM DOUG:

The six millionth hug was just sent on Daily Strength, and it got me thinking about what else we can do to make our world a better, healthier place.

Hugs are invaluable, but there’s so much more we can do. Making things happen requires not just love, but also real action and, of course, money.

Recruit new members to your Daily Strength Member Group, and in return we’ll donate up to $1000 to your favorite charity.

Daily Strength Charity Challenge – Basics

1. The challenge is simple - when 25 or more new members join your Member Group, DS donates money to the charity of your choice.

2. If you haven't already done so, join or create a group on Daily Strength - http://dailystrength.org/groups/. Creating a group is completely free. Existing groups are also eligible. The subject of your group is up to you; we hope you’ll choose something near and dear to your heart – a walk-a-thon, a group to raise awareness, or just a safe haven.

3. Spread the word! Get others to join you in your crusade. Get more tips on how to spread the word here.

4. The challenge starts on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 and ends on Friday, May 23rd.

5. At the end of the Challenge, Daily Strength will contact qualifying group founders to find out about the charity that you would like to support.

Please Note: "New Members" are members that did not have an account at Daily Strength prior to April 24th, 2008. Existing Daily Strength members are welcome to join these groups, but we will only count new members for this challenge.

This is your chance to really help a charity you care about without using any of your own money. At the same time, your friends can become a part of your Group and the Daily Strength community.

Please read more below and visit our official Daily Strength Charity Challenge Group for complete details on the challenge. And then get out there and make a difference!

Official Rules, Tips & Tools

Stop by and read or join the Daily Strength Charity Challenge Group where we'll have the official rules, answer questions, offer tips, and give contest updates.

We can't wait to see what our Member Groups can accomplish, and how many great charities we can help!

Happy Spring from all of us here at Daily Strength!