Fwd: AARP faces revolt over Medicare bill

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" luckypig "

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:47:01 -0500

AARP faces revolt over Medicare bill

 

 

>

> AARP faces revolt over Medicare bill

>

> November 27, 2003

>

> By Martin Finucane

>

> ASSOCIATED PRESS

>

> BOSTON - Senior citizens angry over the AARP's endorsement of the Medicare

> bill are ripping up or burning their AARP membership cards and flooding

the

> lobbying group's Internet message board with complaints in what could be

> the biggest revolt in its ranks since the 1980s.

>

> Many fear the Republican-backed bill approved by Congress on Tuesday will

> harm senior citizens, and they say the AARP - the nation's most

influential

> retiree lobby, with 35 million members - sold them out.

>

> The bill " destroys one of the most successful programs in the history of

> this country, " Isaac Ben Ezra, president of the Massachusetts Senior

Action

> Council, said as he led a demonstration of about 40 people here against

the

> bill Monday. " Shame, AARP. "

>

> AARP chief executive William Novelli said Wednesday that between 10,000

and

> 15,000 members have quit over the bill.

>

> John Rother, policy director at AARP, said the bill was not perfect, but

it

> was a step forward, and the organization will continue to try to improve

> the law.

>

> Vermont's AARP offices have received more than six dozen calls and e-mails

> about the Medicare reform package approved by Congress, but only a handful

> of them expressed interest in renouncing their membership, according to

> Philene Taormina, the organization's director of advocacy in Vermont.

>

> " A lot of the responses we've had are really questions about what the bill

> means, " she said.

>

> In all, there are about 115,000 AARP members in Vermont, representing 65

> percent of all people over 50 in the state, the organization said.

>

> " We were either going to get something now or else it wasn't going to

> happen for many, many years to come, " he said.

>

> The law, pushed by President Bush, is the biggest change in Medicare since

> its creation in 1965, and includes a new prescription drug benefit for 40

> million older and disabled Americans. Supporters say it was long overdue;

> detractors say it was a giveaway to insurers and drug companies.

>

> The law sets up competition between traditional Medicare and private

plans,

> beginning in 2010. Activists worry that could lead to the privatization of

> Medicare and place the elderly in the hands of " insurance sharks " more

> concerned about profits than quality medical care. Elderly people have

also

> questioned the AARP's motives, because it has a for-profit arm that earns

> royalties from the sale of health insurance.

>

> AARP endorsed the plan about a week ago as it headed toward congressional

> approval. AARP's support was welcomed by Republicans and immediately

> criticized by the Democrats, who predicted a revolt within the 45-year-old

> organization.

>

> " It's a firestorm out there. I am absolutely convinced that on this issue

> AARP doesn't speak for their membership, " said Edward Coyle, executive

> director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which represents more than

> 3 million retirees.

>

> The dispute could open a generational rift in the AARP: Many of the

> angriest protests have come from the elderly, at a time when the AARP is

> aggressively recruiting baby boomers before they reach their golden years.

>

> Novelli said the AARP had conducted extensive research that showed younger

> members were more likely to support aspects of the Medicare bill, and he

> said that played a role in the organization's decision to support it.

>

> He speculated younger members are increasingly getting stuck paying the

> drug bills of their parents, and that has made them more aware of

> skyrocketing prices and more determined to do something about the problem.

>

> And he said younger members are more comfortable than older ones with the

> competition the bill provides for - largely because they are accustomed to

> getting their benefits from private insurers.

>

> One-third of the AARP's members are under 60.

>

> In West Palm Beach, Fla., Sam Oser, a 77-year-old retiree, organized a

> protest in his retirement community and burned his AARP card.

>

> " The more we thought about the Republican plan - the more we thought about

> it, the angrier we got and we felt the AARP was really selling us out, " he

> said.

>

> Julia Kayser, 76, of Easthampton, N.Y., the president of a local AARP

> chapter, said that during a recent visit to a senior center, where she

> serves lunch as a volunteer, she told people they ought to quit the AARP.

>

> " A lot of people will not renew their membership when it comes due, " said.

>

> Card-burnings and protests were also reported in such places as

Washington,

> D.C., Webster Groves, Mo., and San Francisco.

>

> " We don't think AARP in the least represents seniors on this issue, " said

> Bruce Livingston, executive director of Senior Action Network in the San

> Francisco area. " We're going to encourage people to quit. This is just the

> beginning. "

>

> Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at

> Harvard, said he had looked at polls on whether the elderly supported the

> bill, and predicted there would be discontent among AARP members.

>

> He said it would be difficult to explain to the elderly why it was

> politically expedient to support the new bill. " They just can't understand

> why you have to settle for a half a bagel here, with a hole in the

middle, "

> he said.

>

> This is not the first time AARP has seen a rebellion among its members.

>

> AARP supported a sweeping Medicare insurance program for catastrophic

> illness in 1988 despite an outcry from many older Americans, including

AARP

> members, who were angry at having to pay a surtax for mandatory coverage

> that some did not want or need. The law was repealed in 1989.

>

> At one point, House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dan Rostenkowski,

> D-Illinois, was chased down a Chicago street by a group of elderly people

> opposed to the bill after he refused to discuss it with them.

>

> The AARP was also embarrassed in the early 1990s when it initially seemed

> to support the Clinton administration's health reform plan, despite a poll

> in its own magazine that found that members were overwhelmingly against

it.

> AARP ended up applauding, rather than endorsing, the plan.

> http://www.timesargus.com/Story/75183.html

>

 

 

 

 

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