Femi Oke talks with Gail King, Ms. New York Senior 2009 and newly-crowned Ms. Senior America 2009, in our studio. King is a twenty-year cancer survivor, has a masters degree from Stony Brook University and taught high school English for 35 years.

The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, joins us with a look at a deal the White House reached earler this year with drug companies. The deal stipulated that pharmaceutical companies would cut name-brand drug prices by 50% for seniors who aren't covered under Medicare's drug plan. In exchange, the White House promised no further cuts to the pharmaceutical industry. While both the White House and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) want to honor the deal, some Democrats are appalled by the seeming kowtowing to special interests.

The debate over reforming the nation's health care system has been raging for months, and it seems one of the groups watching the tussle most closely are senior citizens. Most people tend to head to the doctor more as they get older, after all, and as they do, see their health care costs and time spent navigating the bureaucracy increase dramatically.  Also increasing dramatically are the number of American seniors; as the Boomer generation moves into retirement, there are going to be many, many more people who require health care.

Today we talk to Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, about how senior citizens have ended up at the center of Washington's tug-of-war on health care reform. We also talk to four senior citizens who have their own opinions on where the debate is going: 67-year old Mary McKinney of the Bronx, New York, 80-year old married couple Dick and Barbara Mitchell of Yukon, Oklahoma, and 86-year old Geraldine Powe in Charlotte, North Carolina.