American Seniors Association Begins Health Care Membership Drive

The American Seniors Association bills itself as a conservative alternative to the AARP. The American Seniors Association, while dwarfed by its larger, more liberal rival, now seems to be benefiting from the health care debate at the expense of the AARP.

The American Seniors Association has traditionally been unable to compete with the AARP, due to the AARP/s media clout and its ability to provide its members with benefits, such as insurance and discounts for travel and other services. Now, though, the American Seniors Association is making a bid for AARP members.

"The American Seniors Association (ASA) invites any American Association of Retired Persons member to mail us your torn AARP card and receive a 2 year- for- 1 year membership with ASA. Our organization representing hundreds of thousands of members believes we need health care reform, but we want what is best for seniors. ASA wants to cut wasteful spending in Medicare. ASA wants to see the Congress work to curb frivolous lawsuits that drive up the costs of doctor's malpractice insurance. Our system needs an overhaul, but we do not need expensive Obamacare or anything resembling it."

So far sixty thousand AARP members have quit that organization citing what they believe is that organization's stance on the Obama health care reform proposal. It is unclear how many of these former AARP members have taken up the American Seniors Association on its two for one offer.

The American Seniors Association claims a membership "in the hundreds of thousands." The AARP claims a member ship of about forty million. The AARP claims that while three hundred thousand seniors leave the AARP in a typical month, four hundred thousand join and a million and a half members renew their membership.

The irony is that the AARP has yet to actually articulate an official position on Obamacare. Still, the American Seniors Association has a point. While the AARP has not officially supported Obamacare, it has not actually opposed it either. The prospect of health care rationing, especially for senior citizens, has disturbed a great many people, especially seniors who, naturally, feel vulnerable. The AARP has not been shy about opposing efforts to reform social security or to cut the growth of spending in Medicare. Obamacare has, as a feature, a plan to cut five hundred billion dollars from Medicare. The AARP, which usually erupts at such a proposal, has been strangely silent.

The AARP is one of the most powerful political organizations in the country, second perhaps only to the National Rifle Association. It has achieved that power by amassing a huge membership and using it to wield political clout in Washington.

But if the AARP is perceived as working against the interests of its members, the trickle of people leaving it may become a flood. That would bring with it a weakening of political power, perhaps with other organizations such as the American Seniors Associations gaining it. That might be an unintended consequence of the drive for socialized medicine.

Sources: ASA Membership Offer, American Seniors Association

AARP loses members over health care stance, AP, August 17th, 2009