Wallingford, CT – Meeting with seniors at Masonicare at Ashlar Village in Wallingford, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) discussed and answered questions on health care reform and the importance of prevention in improving quality of life for seniors and lowering health care costs. She was joined by Judy Stein, Founder and Executive Director of Center for Medicare Advocacy; Irving Pease, President of the Ashlar Village Association; Kathy Tynan-McKiernan, Director of Clinical Effectiveness at the Yale-New Haven Hospital; and Jacki Barbato, a Wallingford resident living with arthritis.

“The Obama health reform plan strengthens Medicare. Our plan extends the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by five years, keeps seniors from getting hit by big prescription drug costs – the so-called donut hole, improves subsidies for low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and eliminates co-payments and deductibles for preventive services.”

“Under our plan, important preventive services like cancer screenings will not only be covered – they will be much more affordable,” said DeLauro. “If you are in the Medicare program, you will no longer have to pay any co-pays or deductibles to get important preventive services like mammography or flu shots. With this health reform bill, we really start to change our focus from a sick care system to a real health care system – the point is to help people stay healthy.”