The AARP, which claims to represent more than 40 million seniors, yesterday endorsed H.R. 3962, the massive Pelosi healthcare bill. An analysis of the motivation for the AARP’s favorable position shows that it is based the group’s bottom line, not the best interests of its membership. There could be no other rational explanation for supporting a bill that takes about $400 billion from Medicare and then turns it over to help insure younger Americans.
First, Dan Eggen of The Washington Post wrote a front-page story on October 27 that AARP could benefit from the changes in health insurance in the bill. He noted, ”The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records. ” Supplementary Medicare policies, or ”Medigap”plans, make up the biggest share of this royalty revenue.
While AARP sells a lot of Medigap plans, it does not sell as many Medicare Advantage plans. The latter program provides services such as lower premiums, dental care, eyeglasses, and better prescription drug coverage compared to traditional Medicare. About 25 percent of seniors participate in the program.
For those not familiar with AARP’s history, the organization’s initial purpose was to sell health insurance to teachers. That has morphed into selling health insurance and other services to any American of the age of 50. The group’s director of legislative policy told the Post that policy drives its activities, since it is a “consumer advocacy organization, not an insurance firm.”
The president of the Galen Institute, Grace-Marie Arnett, cited similar concerns in an op-ed in The Chicago Tribune. She noted that the $400 billion in Medicare cuts, especially the $150 billion in Medicare Advantage, will create “an ever greater need for Medigap coverage” for seniors. That will fatten AARP’s bottom line while thinning the ranks of available alternatives to traditional Medicare for seniors.
The Pelosi bill cuts Medicare Advantage by $150 billion to help pay for the Democrats’ ultimate goal – the elimination of private insurance and the establishment of a single-payer system run by bureaucrats in Washington.
When AARP first endorsed the healthcare plan that was making its way through the House, tens of thousands of seniors left AARP, with many cutting up their membership cards to protest the group’s support of healthcare reform. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of other Americans joined AARP because they want to take advantage of the discounts and other membership benefits. Hopefully they will all wake up and smell the bad policy emanating from AARP headquarters following its support of the final Pelosi bill. The greater harm to seniors is not worth the few dollars saved at the movies.
The vote on the bill will occur sometime this weekend, and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), along with many other groups, has issued an Action Alert to its email list urging everyone to tell their representative to vote against the bill. Since the healthcare bill first began working its way through Congress earlier this year, CCAGW has generated 100,000 communications to Capitol Hill opposing the legislation.
The AARP endorsement occurred on the same day that CCAGW joined with other taxpayer groups and thousands of outraged Americans to express their opposition to the bill at the U.S. Capitol. Following cries of “Kill the Bill,” the participants visited congressional offices to tell their own representative to vote “no” on H.R. 3962.
The vote this weekend on “The Worst Bill Ever,” as it was called by The Wall Street Journal on November 1, is critical to the financial health and welfare of every American – seniors, Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y, and most importantly, future generations.
Filed under: Pork
