The American Pundit

Anyone who still thinks that AARP is just some non-partisan organization representing the interests of American seniors hasn’t been paying attention.

The group has, inexplicably, been shilling for ObamaCare for quite some time, which is odd considering that Obama has proposed significant cuts to Medicare  and the elimination of Medicare Advantage as part of his plan. Never mind the fact that rationing of care will hit senior citizens the hardest.

But now we discover that there may be a reason behind the otherwise unexplainable decision by the activist organization to support a legislative proposal that would be disastrous for seniors. It may very well benefit financially.

Yet the Administration’s edict prohibiting plans from communicating with their beneficiaries failed to include AARP, which sponsors a Medicare Advantage plan but has been a prime advocate of Democrats’ government takeover of health care-quite possibly because AARP has been supporting a health care overhaul from which it stands to gain overall handsomely. Even as AARP advocates for cutting Medicare Advantage plans by more than $150 billion, an analysis of the organization’s operations reveals that it stands to receive tens of millions of dollars at the expense of seniors’ medical care-with Democrats’ full approval:

* The Congressional Budget Office has previously estimated that the cuts to Medicare Advantage plans proposed in Democrats’ government takeover of health care (H.R. 3200) would cause millions of seniors to lose their current plan and enroll in government-run Medicare.

* Because the government-run Medicare benefit is less generous than most private health plans, the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found in June that more than nine in ten seniors not in nursing home settings utilize some form of Medicare supplemental insurance. While many of these individuals currently rely on Medicare Advantage plans for the extra benefits they provide to seniors, many would be forced to purchase supplemental Medigap policies should their existing Medicare Advantage plans be taken away from them due to Democrats’ government takeover of health care.

* A review of its financial statements finds that in 2008, AARP received more than half a billion dollars in revenue from selling products like Medigap supplemental insurance policies-$652.7 million in direct “royalties and fees,” and an increase of more than 31 percent from the $497.6 million in similar revenue AARP generated in 2007.

* Royalty revenues now comprise more than half-60.3 percent-of all AARP revenues; a Bloomberg news analysis published in December found that in 1999, royalties comprised only 11 percent of the organization’s total revenues.

* The Bloomberg article-which highlighted what one observer called AARP’s “dirty little secret”-profiled seniors who felt betrayed after paying hundreds of dollars above market price for AARP-branded coverage. One noted that “AARP has great buying power, and people should be able to get the best deal….This is unconscionable, what AARP has allowed to happen.” Another disillusioned senior wrote to the organization’s leadership asking whether AARP had a “‘special relationship’ with [insurance carriers] by which it receives commissions, incentives, rebates, or dare I say ‘kickbacks?’”-and when he arrived at AARP headquarters for a tour, was promptly escorted out of the marble-covered atrium.

* While H.R. 3200 would place strict price controls on Medicare Advantage plans-requiring them to pay out 85 percent of premium revenues in medical claims-Medigap policies face a far less strict 65 percent requirement. In other words, under the Democrat bill, seniors could pay as much as 20 cents more out of every premium dollar to fund “kickbacks” to AARP-sponsored Medigap plans than Medicare Advantage plans.

The higher prices charged by AARP plans, and the organization’s increasing dependence upon revenue from “royalties,” provide tangible evidence why AARP would support cuts to Medicare Advantage that would likely increase their “kickbacks” from Medigap plans.

To sum that all up, seniors forced out of Medicare Advantage are potential (and likely) customers for the AARP-sponsored Medicare gap insurance program — a program that provides 70% of the organization’s annual income. AARP would benefit financially from millions of seniors being forced out of a program they utilize to cover medical problems not covered under Medicare.

AARP appears ready to sell-out the seniors it supposedly “represents” by backing plans that take away their current coverage in order to force them to purchase gap insurance through AARP. It’s all about the money.

The American Spectator has asked the organization for a comment, but their evasive statement only accuses the questioners of “scare tactics” and other empty platitudes intended to dodge the issue.

Are you a member of AARP? If you are, be sure to call them here: 1-888-687-2277.