The Golden Years Of AARP

Health Reform: The tax-exempt seniors group that pushed hard to get ObamaCare passed stands to reap a billion-dollar reward over the next decade as ObamaCare destroys the competition to the products it endorses.

During what passed for a debate on ObamaCare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers benefits under Medicare, issued what can only be called a gag order after private insurer Humana Inc. warned its Medicare Advantage customers in a letter that ObamaCare might cause them to lose some benefits.

It was because that letter exposed one of Obama-Care's biggest lies — the claim that if you liked your coverage you can keep it. Millions of seniors liked Medicare Advantage and still do. Fearful of the consequences of the hundreds of billions ObamaCare would cut out of Medicare, and angry about AARP's support for health care reform, CBS News reported in 2009 how at least 60,000 seniors tore up and mailed back their AARP membership cards.

President Obama told a town meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., "We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors." Now a new report released by GOP members on the House Ways and Means Committee, "Behind the Veil: The AARP America Doesn't Know," says the AARP may have been on board simply because it was a good deal for it.

The AARP slit their own throats in supporting Obamacare.

Sure, they are a powerful lobby who can get what they want and they thought they would get a cadillac program on a miser’s dollar. And they will ,..., for a time.

However, as they babyboomers age, move through the system, and start dying off, the younger set will eventually be able to pull out the rug from underneath the babyboomers, at the very least survival will force the younger set to do this.

It always cracks me when companies are called non profits and everyone says "Well they are okay. They are a non profit".

Well someones profiting. When you look at the salaries of your local public broadcasting company and learn many executives earn more than would in the private sector it's crazy.

The top 8 executives and I forget how many there are now, but if I recall earn in excess of $300 thousand per year with salary and other compensation combined. This on a company that has only $59 million in revenue.

They would never get that in the real world from a company only doing $59 million a year.

Now check out AARP's compensation and this isn't even a report that details everything.

A review of AARP’s most recent Form 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service finds that in 2008, then-CEO Bill Novelli received cash compensation of $788,957 and “other compensation” of $216,423, for total compensation of $1,005,830. AARP’s 18 highest officials (as well as company trustees) received total salaries of $6,623,777, along with nearly another million dollars ($924,556) in other compensation—an average of more than $51,000 in perquisites and additional compensation per employee. How does spending more than $7 million to fund 18 high-paid staff positions — and paying a CEO more than 78 times the average annual Social Security benefit of $12,738 ($1,061.50 per month) — serve seniors? Moreover, how many AARP members are aware that they pay dues to an organization whose CEO receives more than a million dollars in salary and perks?

Having become disgusted over AARP ignoring my letters, I sent this yesterday in response to a renewal solicitation to member@aarp.org (They have not yet replied.):

Subject: Renew, perhaps if I get a substantive response this time.

Once again, you write to ask me to renew my AARP membership and continue to support the organization that continues to ignore my preferences, leave my letters to you unanswered.

Since I joined and remained a member of AARP, I have written to you numerous times about your position on Social Security,; illegal immigration; civil rights (support for the complete Bill of Rights, not just those parts you choose to support.); and Obamacare, which you unashamedly supported and promoted despite the opposition of the majority of your members and the majority of Americans and which (”... cancer treatment will be rationed based on age of the patient ....”) does, despite denials from the lockstep press, provide for death panels.

Please start responding to your members’ correspondence, find out what we members prefer, and represent us vis-a-vis those preferences rather than haughtily arrogating to yourselves the true knowledge of what we should prefer and what we would, indeed, prefer, were we only as enlightened and sensitive to revealed truth as you.

If you do that, I may think AARP membership somewhat worthwhile (so you can continue to receive the kickbacks from insurance companies and others with something to sell to us). All you have to do to earn that respect is to serve your members rather than try to rule us. All you need do is listen to your members. Do I ask too much?

I look forward to receiving your response to this letter; though, based on past experience, I do not plan to bet the farm on receiving the courtesy of such a response.

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