A Resource for Seniors, Caregivers, and Advocates

I wrote this week’s blog early in anticipation of enjoying the Labor Day holiday weekend. I relied too much on Patrick Henry’s famous quote, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past”, to guide my thoughts concerning when the continuing resolution (CR) would be passed. I expected the members of Congress to once again use this temporary legislative mechanism that funds are government as a political “game of chicken” to see who gives in first as September 30th approaches. Last year, no one gave in, and they shut down the government for a record 43 days. If there is one thing about this Congress, they are full of surprises. Going completely out of character the House and the Senate passed the CR with huge majorities and it was signed into law. The CR expires December 11th, after the mid-term elections, which is one indicator of how important these elections are. Thank goodness for my ever-vigilant editors who keep me from foolishly relying on history and thinking the Congress would continue to let politics steer them away from doing the right thing. This puts healthcare issues in a whole new light and alters when they will be debated and implemented. But, before I focus on these issues, I need to rant just a little.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog about how vaccines save lives, detailing that because of them an estimated 154 million deaths have been averted since 1974. I thought I had said what needed to be said and had planned on writing about other issues. Yet two recent events have caused me to return to this important subject - the deaths from measles of two unvaccinated persons in Pennsylvania, one of them an infant, and a request for information concerning the changing of some of the categories concerning vaccine guidance.‍ ‍

This is National Wellness Month and it’s a great time to focus on our own health. The theme this year is prioritizing your well‑being by building small, sustainable habits that support a healthier, more balanced life. I empathize with the people that are tasked with coming up with a theme each year for wellness month. You can just hear the leader telling their team that the theme must be precise and meaningful, and I think they have succeeded.

Vaccines are back in the news and not in a good way. The Administration just issued an executive order that narrowed the standing recommendations for immunizations for children. Seniors Speak Out issued a statement that warned of the serious impact this change could have, not only on the health of our nation’s youth but also on the health of America’s seniors. Older people rely on the health of their communities to protect them from preventable diseases but that’s not the whole story. I think I’m qualified to say that the most important impact of this change to the immunization recommendations will be on our grandchildren. It’s one of those universal truths that grandparents abide by . . . don’t do anything that hurts my grandchildren, and this new executive order does just that.

August 11, 2026—Seniors Speak Out, a national healthcare policy advocacy group, issued the below statement following the signing of the Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans Executive Order (EO): 

Tariffs were a big item of interest for a period of time and have slowly faded from the headlines. It’s really hard to extrapolate what impact these tariffs have had on our daily lives, mostly due to the inflation caused by world events and other variables. From a healthcare point of view tariffs were mostly directed at drug manufacturers as a way to reduce costs and to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to America, commonly called reshoring. The tariff threats of the past brought large drug manufacturers to the bargaining table where many of them signed deals on pricing and increased investment in stateside manufacturing. Recently the focus has shifted to medium sized drug manufacturers with talks of possible negotiations. The real news concerning tariffs was the President’s announcement last month that he would impose no tariffs on foreign sourced generic drugs until August of 2028 and then there would be 100% tariff for a year followed by a second year at 200%. The original tariffs were on brand name drugs which historically cost the most but make up only about 10% of the total medications used by Americans. The proposed tariffs on generic drugs will affect 90% of those used in the U.S. which could affect a much larger number of older adults. Before I talk some more about these proposed tariffs let me reiterate why I have always disliked them.

Last Thursday was the day, 61 years ago, that Medicare was signed into law. It was the culmination of a long trek that began in the Truman administration and finally became law as part of Lyndon Johnson’s great society agenda. Medicare has been a big part of America’s healthcare for these six decades and has provided a sense of security for everyone over 65 and for those planning their retirement. The process of developing a program for providing healthcare for older Americans was not an easy journey.

I had the honor of attending the yearly USAging conference again this year and it helped me remember how important the people are who care for, encourage, and provide service to older Americans. This conference supports the nationwide network of Area Agencies on Aging and offers a forum for discovering new tools and methods for supporting seniors and a place to share ideas and experience. I am always reminded at this conference how important these local area agencies are to those people they serve.

We’ve all, or at least most of us I suspect, have heard the saying, “give an inch take a mile” which summarizes the situation where you give in on some point under dispute and the other person expands the freedom to take much more than was envisioned. I think an even more insidious twist on this saying is “give an inch take two inches”. It doesn’t seem like much but in fact the taker doubled the amount that was initially given. If they continue to double pretty soon the taker has overpowered the giver. I can’t see the future, but sometimes I’m stupid enough to make a prediction and when I’m wrong, which is often, I usually stand mute. But when I’m right, I point out the accuracy of my prediction, but in a humble way. Case in point.

Both the House and the Senate will soon take summer recesses, the House starting July 27th and the Senate starting August 10th. This time off was first instigated so our country’s early lawmakers could return home to harvest their crops and tend to their farms. It has remained a tradition in modern times, mostly to allow members of Congress, and other workers, both government and private, to take vacations. Having worked in that environment for more than twenty years I can attest that nothing gets done in Washington in August. Some antagonists think this is a great tradition, postulating that anytime you can keep Congress from acting it’s good for the country. No matter your particular stance on the subject there is still time for Congress to act before they leave for home - and a little time after they return - before all the air is sucked out of Washington with the upcoming midterm elections. I think it will be helpful to understand the existing environment and mood in Washington going into these final months.

Last Saturday we celebrated our country’s Sestercentennial or Semiquincentennial (I’m not sure which is more correct), both are complicated ways to say we’ve been a nation for 250 years. It seems that lately we have often been concentrating on the negative aspects of our country, I admit I’ve been guilty of doing this as it relates to our government’s stance on some healthcare issues, but now is an ideal time to step back and look at where we are medically, 250 years after we became a nation.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the yearly BIO international conference. It is put on by the Biotechnology Innovation Organizations and brings together all of the world’s players in the sector to develop business relationships and discuss new developments, as well as the policy issues that affect drug creation. My best estimate is this was my 14th BIO conference, so I feel pretty comfortable in my assertion that this one was the most exciting one. Not exciting from a public policy perspective, I’ll talk about that later, but exciting from the hope the future holds for the health of all of us. I’ve been excited before at BIO conferences. There was a year when there was hope for a breakthrough in medicines for Alzheimer’s, another time there was enthusiasm about new cancer treatments. We were excited in those years because it gave us hope in those disease areas. What makes this year the most intriguing is the fact that there are new tools being developed that will speed up the discovery in almost every disease area. These tools will help scientists focus on the most promising paths and reduce the number of trials and especially the errors in finding the final answers in multiple disease areas. One speaker said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) I will allow scientists to spend more time being scientists. While there were many new tools highlighted, I think the mRNA platform and AI may prove to have the biggest impact on the discovery of new medicines.

The blog this week is on how staying active makes a difference in our long-term health. Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that exercise is good for you. I’ve been bombarded with multiple reminders, everyone from my health insurers to the Veterans Association have reminded me that staying active is important. It seems that lately the big push is doing chair exercises which overcomes any mobility concerns by offering things you can do while sitting. I certainly understand the importance of staying active as we grow older, but I also recognize the basic problem we all have in making the commitment to exercise . . . we just don’t do it. I’ll talk about that a little later but let me first do my due diligence and give you the reasons why we should be active:

June is Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month, a disease that we all have had some experience with. It would be unusual for anyone not to know someone in their family or the family of a friend that has dealt with Alzheimer’s. It is a pervasive disease that impacts us much differently than the common diseases that affect us as we get old. The term, “the long goodbye” has been used to describe the slow deterioration it inflicts on its victims and their loved ones. I feel that one of the worst aspects of this slow goodbye is the fact that often, you must say goodbye to who the person was and continue to care for the person they have become. Not only does the person suffering from Alzheimer’s begin to lose some memory and cognitive skills but as they progress, they can lose their recognition of loved ones and often their personality changes.