Report: AARP To Endorse House Health Bill

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2009
Report: AARP To Endorse House Health Bill
Officials Tell Associated Press That Powerful Seniors Lobbying Group Will Back Health Care Reform Legislation

(AP) Officials are telling The Associated Press that AARP will endorse the health care overhaul bill that House Democrats are preparing to take to the floor.

Officials with knowledge of the group's decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the senior's lobby has decided to give the $1.2 trillion measure its seal of approval. An announcement is expected Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not been made.

The endorsement, in advance of floor votes as early as this weekend, would be a major boost for President Barack Obama's signature issue.



Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/04/politics/main...

[skorpo]

1. Any AARP member should contact them RE: this

Here is a link to their contact page.
http://aarp.org/aarp/About_AARP/contact_aarp/

[katkat]

2. sign up

Plus if you're over 50, sign up, membership is $16 a year and you get various discounts.

They have an excellent Medigap plan.

AARP management are good people and deserve support.

[Iowa]

10. AARP's recent CEO, William Novelli, was a Bush lackey and a sellout...

Like Bush, he served the interests of the pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the elderly, and smeared the AARP name for years to come. I would join and support AARP about as quickly as I would join and support the Republican party - never.

Novelli resigned this year. Perhaps when I hear that the new CEO has repudiated Novelli's tenure, and if they demonstrate several years of kicking some serious ass on behalf of their members (instead of screwing them over), I may reconsider. Until then, AARP can go to straight to hell.

[glinda]

11. from the people who brought you the donut hole...

[Le Taz Hot]

17. AARP USED to be a senior advocacy group.

Somewhere along the line they became lackys for big pharma and the insurance companies. In fact, that's pretty much the ONLY thing they do anymore is sell overpriced insurance that most of their members can't afford.

[bluestateguy]

3. That helped to put the Medicare drug bill over the top

along with some late night bribery by the GOP leadership on the House floor.

[clear eye]

4. AARP is not primarily a senior citizens lobby

They are a marketer of private Medigap insurance, auto insurance and homeowners insurance, and a membership organization designed to get discounts and other marketplace benefits for their 55+ members. Occasionally they lobby. They like the bill now b/c the Kucinich amendment which would be something of a threat to private insurers has been removed. Look elsewhere if you want to find a group lobbying w/ integrity for under-65 retirees.

[wisteria]

6. AARP has a name that many people 55 + trust and they have a huge membership. n/t

[wisteria]

5. This will certainly give it a boost. Perhaps with their support we can win more seniors over.

The Repubs have done a great job of scaring them to death.

[hayu_lol]

7. Yeah, the AARP did indeed fully back the Medicare Part D...

farce foistered upon us by the arm-twisting/blackmailing Repugnants who held the voting on the bill open overnight.

AARP lost a large number of members when they so endorsed Part D.

[katkat]

18. Try not mistaking your friends for your enemies.

And they've said they were hoodwinked, which is one of the reasons they're backing the public option now.

I have AARP insurance, by the way, and I am very happy with it. It is night and day different from the crap I used to get from my employer's insurance before I became eligible for Medicare/Medigap.

[Xipe Totec]

8. Hey, Blue Dogs! The Blue hairs are coming to get ya! n/t

[IndianaGreen]

9. Let's see... the bill mandates purchase of insurance. AARP sells insurance.

And the bill, if enacted as law, will still leave millions of Americans without any kind of health coverage. This is not what I define as universal health care.

[glinda]

12. AARP has stepped up it's insurance ads on tv

[Autumn]

14. But...

Thank you.

[bemildred]

13. I am retired and I am suspicious of anything that AARP supports.

I keep telling them to leave me alone and they keep sending me crap in the mail and pretending that I support them and that they represent me.

[Deja Q]

15. I know people who canceled their AARP dues after AARP supported Bush's medicare plan-D scam...

Why do I feel worried about what's in the bill that Boner felt he didn't have to read, despite that being, like, HIS JOB?

[eridani]

16. Those shitstains could care less about age rating

They care more for peddling insurance than representing the interests of people 55-64.