Posted on 01/16/2009 10:50:34 PM PST by eartotheground
Seniors may think they save money when they buy AARP insurance, but if they take the trouble to compare competing products, they may be paying twice as much.
AARP brought in nearly half a billion dollars in 2007 from fees insurers pay for AARP endorsement. It also gained about $40 million from holding the clients’ premiums for a month and investing them.
The revenue helps pay down the $200 million bond debt that funded the organization’s brass and marble headquarters in Washington, D.C.—which is closed to visitors, purportedly so staff can work.
Royalties and fees now constitute about 43% of AARP’s revenue, up from 11% in 1999.
According to a 2007 Harris poll, AARP ranks third behind Consumer Reports and the American Red Cross as a trusted large advocacy group influencing U.S. politics. AARP is considered the most powerful interest group in the United States.
“They don’t even have to give any campaign contributions,” observes James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington. “AARP’s enormous clout comes from the threat that they could defeat people in Congress who don’t do what they want.”
AARP lobbied against Bush’s proposed overhaul of Social Security, and for the Medicare prescription drug benefit. When Part D passed, AARP was able to expand its contract with UnitedHealth Group, which underwrites its Medicare supplemental insurance plan.
“I was kind of shocked,” said one member, who found out he was paying $1,079 more for his AARP auto insurance than he would have paid for a Mutual of Omaha policy. “They’re making money on the backs of old people” (Gary Cohn and Darrell Preston, Bloomberg.com 12/4/08).
AARP is a gun grabbing org.
Bump to your post.
i’m not joinong either and anyone that joins AATP deserves to get ripped off.
Thank you for posting this information, eartotheground. Need to check this out not only for ourselves, but for our elderly parents.
AARP has mutated into a front for insurance sales.
ANd as noted, with lousy rates.
I may be old, but I ain’t stupid. (Tho some would argue....)
I just turned 50 last month.
I’ve received 2 AARP cards since then.
They both gave my shredder a work-out.
It always puzzles me when I read stuff like this because my total annual premium with AARP is $588 for three vehicles (no collision coverage, though).
I believe the AARP' "socialist agenda" factor is very minor when you consider the results of the last presidential election.
I dump every bit of mail I get from AARP. Whatta racket. If I want discounts, I’ll get them from AAA.
AARP started out as an insurance company.
My bad - thanks for the data.
"AARP. A Name that you trust!" Bravo Sierra.
By the time you reach retirement age you will have received a dumpster full of mail from them.
AARP Delenda Est.
I’m not a fan of AARP and like others on this thread, I have destroyed everything they have sent me. And I’m proud to say my son who is nearing 48, feels the same way, and will do the same thing.
However, insurance companies do not make money on the premiums they collect,or what they pay out in claims, they make money on the investments they make with those premiums.
AARP is a rip off outfit w/ a liberal political stance.
Bump for later read.
At least they haven’t asked for a bailout. Yet.
Someone I know found that his late mother had an AARP medical sup. policy, so he had her lawyer write them to see if her estate had any $$$ comming from it. They replied that they didn’t pay until after you were in hospital 90 days.
I repackage all their stuff into the business reply envelope and mail it back to them.
HA! The rates did seem extremely high for only a little coverage.
As far as AARP goes, everytime we get their junk mail, back it all, except for anything with our address, goes into their mailer with a big “no thanks” emblazoned across their pages. This is their postage paid mailer. They spent money to send the junk to me and will have to pay again to receive the junk back.
Small win, but it makes me feel good.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.