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Opinion: Medicare should cover cost of hearing aids, exams Many American seniors suffer from some form of hearing loss. But millions of retirees can’t afford treatment because traditional Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids, which can cost thousands of dollars each.  Medicare covers testing strips for diabetics and wheelchairs for people who can no longer walk. Why… Read more »

The New York Times: How Trump’s Tweets Cause Collateral Damage for Families Already in Pain In the 19 years since a faulty heart valve caused Lori Klausutis to faint and fatally hit her head on a desk, her family has had to emotionally weather swells of conspiracy theories positing that she was the victim of foul play, even murder, despite all medical and police evidence to the… Read more »

Detroit Free Press: 3rd day of protests over alleged police brutality draws hundreds to Washtenaw jail Hundreds of protesters filled the street near the Washtenaw County Jail in Pittsfield Township on Thursday to protest injustice in the local community and nationwide. The protest was initially organized in response to a video that circulated on social media Tuesday showing a white… Read more »

The new post-Nassar leadership of the U.S. Olympic movement was on full display for all to see Wednesday morning at a Congressional hearing focused on the terrible sex abuse scandals in the nation’s Olympic sports. Everyone was so calm, so measured, so lawyerly, so sorry — and so full of excuses about how they weren’t around when all the bad stuff happened, but now care… Read more »

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) recently questioned Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee entitled, “Facebook: Transparency and Use of Consumer Data.” Dingell pressed Zuckerberg about the questions he failed to answer during his congressional testimony regarding Facebook’s business practices, as well… Read more »

During two days of marathon testimony before Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg managed to avoid answering some critical questions about how user information is managed and the extent to which that data might have been improperly shared with third parties. One congresswoman wasn’t having it.  “As CEO, you didn’t know some key facts,” said Rep. Debbie… Read more »

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Wednesday sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai raising questions about the new broadcast technology standard, ATSC 3.0, and the privacy implications it will have on consumers across the country. Dingell asked questions about what types of information would be collected from consumers to implement targeted advertisements under the new standard, and how… Read more »

Two House Democrats criticized U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for not doing more to make his office's actions more transparent, saying lawmakers continue to be left in the dark about the Trump administration's trade negotiations. They urged Lighthizer to appoint a "chief transparency officer" to report to Congress. "We continue to encounter frustrations with lapses in… Read more »

A “final” version of a federal Action Plan for reducing phosphorus loading into Lake Erie reiterates a goal of reducing it 40 percent by 2025 and describes an array of potential measures to get there. But critics said the report includes no consequences should the 40 percent goal not be met, rendering it toothless. “The plan has been strengthened in some substantive… Read more »

Michigan U.S. Reps. Fred Upton and Debbie Dingell will co-chair a bipartisan congressional working group in response to the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 students and school staff. They were named co-chairs by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. The caucus is composed of 24 members each from the Republican and Democratic parties who… Read more »