Rural Americans who face unique challenges would also experience unique struggles under a one-size-fits-all healthcare plan. For years, the farmers, ranchers, and everyone living in our nation's breadbasket have endured inequitable access to quality care and medical services compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. .Working longer, especially if you are earning more now than you did in jobs in the past, can also help increase your benefit because the Social Security Administration uses your highest 35 years of earnings to calculate your initial retirement amount. If you've worked less than 35 years, then the extra years of work will help fill in the earning gaps in your record. .Now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has told hospitals they can't hide their prices from web searches. .The measure has bipartisan backing in the Senate, as well as support from some moderate House Democrats. However, it is facing opposition from House leaders who say the legislation is a roundabout way to cut Social Security benefits. .Also this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed optimism that he will gain support for the bill to lower prescription drug prices that he and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have written. Grassley's remarks came in the light of President Trump's State of the Union speech where he thanked Grassley for his work on the drug price issue and urged Congress to get a bill passed and sent to him. .For details, or to see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings during the summer recess, call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE. .In fact, according to TSCL's annual survey of senior costs, Social Security benefits have lost more than one-third of their buying power since 2000 because COLAs underpay recipients. TSCL supports using the CPI-E to determine COLAs that better take into account the spending patterns of older people. For well over a decade, TSCL has lobbied Congress to make the COLA more fair and accurate. TSCL is mobilizing seniors nationwide to contact Members of Congress. .To learn more about your enrollment deadlines for Medicare visit www.Medicare.gov. .On Tuesday evening, President Obama gave his fifth State of the Union Address before both chambers of Congress. To The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) surprise, the sixty-five minute speech included no mention of Social Security or Medicare, but the President did speak briefly about immigration reform and a new retirement savings plan called "myRA."