AARP accused of conflict of interest - USA Today - Insurance company front

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-11-20-aarp-protest_x.htm

WASHINGTON — AARP, the nation's leading lobbying force for retirees, has a major conflict of interest in its backing for a new Medicare prescription drug plan, opponents charge.

The organization receives millions of dollars a year in royalties for insurance marketed under its name. It stands to reap a windfall from the plan, which would pump $400 billion into a new drug benefit and open Medicare to private insurance competition.

AARP's annual reports show it has received about $608 million in insurance-related income over the four most recent years for which data are available. That's 30% of its total income, roughly equal to what it collects in membership dues.

"It's almost unimaginable that they wouldn't stand to gain" if the new benefit is passed, says David Himmelstein of Harvard Medical School. He is a proponent of national health insurance.

more

[xray s]

1. What does AARP do with all the money it makes off insurance?

Why is an organization that poses as an advocate for the elderly in business to make profits off drugs and insurance?

And just what the hell do they do with all that money...besides pay CEO salaries?

[many a good man]

2. AARP is a non-profit organization with a for profit subsidiary

Public citizen has their financial report available at: http://www.citizen.org/documents/AARP_PC_fctsht.pdf

AARP started out in the 50s as the National Retired Teachers Assn. The founder was a retired schoolteacher and discovered many of her old associates living in penury. One retired teacher she visited was living in a converted chicken coop.

Before Medicare insurance companies would not offer insurance to old people. She created an organization for the purpose of leveraging strength in numbers to get affordable insurance rates. Today AARP uses the commisions to fund its lobbying and seniors programs.

AARP recently opened a state office in every one of the 50 state capitols to help influence legislation. They are highly regarded by Congressional Quarterly as one of the most effective lobbies on the Hill. I think most people here would agree with the positions they take on almost every issue.

Revenue also goes to other charitable programs: driver safety programs, free legal assistance, grief and loss counseling, gerontology research, etc.

For every person who thinks they're too conservative there are two or three who think they are too liberal. I agree they have gone over the line with this issue and should be held accountable. However I still think they can be brought back in line if enough members demand it. Instead of giving up on them, at least try to get the board of directors to dump Novelli by writing to them. There's another post with instructions on how to write the board: http://democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=4119

[maddezmom]

3. donate to the GOP?

hope I'm not right about that remark. They are slime.

[Myra]

5. Well, the head of the AARP wrote the preface to Newt Gingrich book

According to Joe Conason:

"AARP chief William Novelli -- now known to dissident members as "Gingrich's poodle," for his adoring preface to the former speaker's new paperback -- has a strangely mixed political pedigree. A former P.R. executive, Novelli specialized in using "social marketing" as a cover for corporate interests. On its own site, the company he founded boasts about its pioneering work on behalf of manufacturing polluters, the auto industry, the insurance industry and other special interests. Porter/Novelli now seems especially proud of the grossly misleading "Harry and Louise" ad that brought down the Clinton healthcare plan in 1993."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2003/11/21/medicare/index.html

And of course was behind the infamous "Harry and Louise"
campaign to kill Clinton's healthcare program.
So even if he's not donating cold cash (which he probably is),
he's making significant donations in other ways.

[baby_bear]

4. Great sentiment by Daschle -- so why won't he filibuster?

<snip from the same article>

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., say the legislation would sell out the interests of senior citizens. It "undermines Medicare and serves the agendas of big drug and insurance companies," they wrote in a letter to AARP head William Novelli. They asked Novelli to pledge not to profit from any program that might be created.

</snip>

I am starting to sound like a broken record on this theme. But I am furious with Daschle for refusing to support a filibuster.

s_m

[IndianaGreen]

6. Daschle is bought and paid for

that's why he won't buck the pharmaceutical industry.

[madrchsod]

7. anthrax

or he`s just a fuck`n whore