AARP: America's Most Powerful Lobby Fails

The American Association for Retired Persons is arguably the most powerful lobby for one group of people in the entire United States. Boasting 38 million members, AARP is firmly entrenched as a do-good, non-profit organization for those aged 50 years and older. AARP claims advocacy for health care, offers discounts, insurance and much more. But while most of us are familiar with AARP for the senior discounts, what do we really know about this organization?

Conflict of Interest: Insurance Issues

In April of 2007, AARP announced they would become more involved in selling insurance to their members among other products and become more involved as the private insurer to Medicare recipients. These new insurance products will be carried in cooperation with UnitedHealth Group and marketed by Aetna.¹ This in and of itself does not sound like a bad thing. In fact, most people welcomed AARP's involvement in insurance thinking the lobby group would be looking out for their best interests. Why not, since that's their cause, right? Wrong. About 39% of AARP's income, roughly 300 million dollars, comes directly from royalties paid by the insurance companies. (Alonso-Zaldivar, LA Times, 06/08/05) Judith A. Stein, director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said, "AARP will not be perceived as a truly independent advocate on Medicare if it's making hefty profits by selling insurance products that provide Medicare coverage."

"Call it the riddle of AARP. It's truly puzzling why an organization that represents 38 million individuals 50 and over, many of whom depend on Medicare, would endorse a Medicare offshoot - Medicare Advantage - that siphons money from traditional Medicare and is seen by many as part of an effort to privatize Medicare." said former Des Moines Register editor Gilbert Cranberg, writing in Nieman Watchdog.²

Divided We Fail: Pro-Government & Pro-Taxes

In other issues with insurance and Medicare, AARP launched the Divided We Fail campaign in order to stop government corruption in Social Security and Medicare. Read into this: privatization of Medicare. But they support privatization that would put AARP firmly in charge. President Bush unveiled a plan to put Social Security back into the hands of the earners through privatization and was soundly defeated by AARP.³

The Divided We Fail campaign seeks to bring bipartisan lawmakers together to solve this issue. However, AARP seems to be all lobby and no action. Dale von Atta, of the Reader's Digest, reported that the senior citizen's "earnings limit," a limit imposed by the government on senior citizens earning a supplemental income to their social security benefits, could have been repealed in 1992 had AARP gotten behind it. Mr. von Atta explained, "for every two dollars Americans ages 62 to 64 earn over $9120 this year, the government takes back one dollar of Social Security benefits; retirees 65 to 69 are penalized one dollar for every three earned above $14,500."⁴ Senator John McCain, who backed and nearly won this appeal, said, "The overwhelming majority of seniors support repeal of the earnings test." But it failed to be repealed due to the lack of support from AARP. The AARP claimed that in supporting this repeal, the government would lose millions of dollars in revenues forcing other cuts in senior benefits.⁵

In another startling move, AARP opted not to lobby against President Clinton's budget in 1993. This was budget was referred to as the largest tax increase in American history. In fact, senior citizens would now face taxation on over 85% of social security. With a direct hit to senior citizens, all watched eagerly to see AARP step up and defeat the bill. They did not. John Rother, director of Legislation and Public Policy division for AARP, claims they let it go in order to focus on passing a healthcare bill that would include long-term care and prescription drug coverage. But, Rother proposed to pay for this bill by increasing taxes to over $112 billion a year. In the end, AARP's offices were flooded with angry calls and they lost over one million members by the end of the firestorm.⁶

With an annual war chest of over $38 million devoted to advocacy, many wonder if AARP does speak for them. With the pro-tax and pro-government stands in the past, many retirees wonder if AARP is looking out for them. Former member, Elizabeth Lambert says, "The AARP leadership should look behind and see how many of us are still following - if we ever did." Her dissatisfaction is mirrored in many others and over the last several years AARP has seen a significant decline in membership.⁷

Liberal Lobbying

American Seniors Association (ASA), a conservative seniors association devoted to giving seniors an alternative, has been very clear on their agenda as well as their competition's. According to ASA's president, Jerry Barton, AARP is very clearly entrenched in liberal lobbying. In a solicitation letter, Barton explains: "Our research and polling shows that most Americans who reach the age of 50 join AARP for two reasons. 1) They think they should when they turn 50. 2) People want the travel discounts and other benefits offered by AARP. Most of AARP's members do not know is that their membership dues are used by AARP to promote a radical far-left political agenda that is out of step with 90% of Americans . . . (it) spends much of it (revenue) lobbying Congress for higher taxes, more big government and more socialism."⁸

In 2004, AARP joined forces with a local homosexual lobbying group in Ohio to attempt to defeat a referendum on marriage defined as one man and one woman. When asked why AARP would become involved in homosexual causes, spokeswoman Nancy Thompson said, "AARP does not have a position on gay marriage. AARP Ohio opposed that state's gay marriage amendment because part of the proposal would have 'truncated certain rights' of people living in the same household who were not married, and that would have included many seniors."⁹

Another area in which AARP has lobbied is abortion rights. While it seems odd to me that a group supposedly representing retirees is worried about abortion rights, it makes complete sense to them. According to AARP's May 2005 (Vol. 46, No. 5) issue of their bulletin, "South Korea's policy on family planning has caused the birthrate to plummet so dramatically in the last decade that the country is now the most rapidly aging place in the developed world. This will severely strain the retirement system, but there will be a silver lining of sorts for South Koreans in their early 50s: By mid-century, they'll be considered young." ¹⁰ Blogger, Mrs. Julie Shockley had this to say in response: "Of course, "family planning" is a euphemism for abortion as well as contraception. But according to AARP, I can sleep easier tonight knowing that the 4,000 abortions to be performed in the U.S. today will thin the herd of young people so I can feel younger in comparison, even as I age. Have we finally found the fountain of youth?¹¹

Whatever your views or political sway, it is important to be aware of the facts. If you wish to join AARP or any other organization for that matter, it is imperative that you know to what and whom you are lending your support. In June 2004's Gray Power blog, there is a message of encouragement to look outside of AARP for a lobbying group.¹² You may not hear much about them but you may find your views match up better with one of the other groups.

For further information, check out: American Seniors Association, United Seniors Association, Focus over 50, Christian Seniors Association, Christian Association of PrimeTimers, or the 60 Plus Association.

¹ http://www.therubins.com/geninfo/aarp.htm

² http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-bzsaul5516637dec29,0,479547.column

³ http://www.factcheck.org/article315.html

⁴http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mclauchl/F01/Pol101/WritAgn4.htm

⁵http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mclauchl/F01/Pol101/WritAgn4.htm

⁶http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mclauchl/F01/Pol101/WritAgn4.htm

⁷http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mclauchl/F01/Pol101/WritAgn4.htm

⁸http://agoodchoice.blogspot.com/2007/08/aarp-senior-scam-artist.html

⁹http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110006336

¹⁰http://abortionhurts.blogspot.com/2005/05/aarp-finds-silver-lining-in-abortion.html

¹¹ http://abortionhurts.blogspot.com/2005/05/aarp-finds-silver-lining-in-abortion.html

¹²http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/june/12.20.html