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November 25, 2009

John Stossel to O'Reilly: Quit the AARP

John Stossel says he's thrown away his AARP card, and from what he had to say to O'Reilly, there's little reason to wonder why.

Stossel writes:

Tonight, Bill O'Reilly asked me why the AARP supports Obamacare. Polls show that just 30 percent of seniors want it.

I think it's because the AARP is a political machine.

The AARP was founded on lefty principles. Their mission statement references "positive social change", "collective purpose", and a "collective voice". According to the Center for Responsive Politics, AARP employees donated to Democrats 9 to 1. Its president, Barry Rand, gave $8,900 to Obama.

Executive VP Kevin Donnellan used to work for Geraldine Ferraro. Nancy Leamond, "Executive VP of Social Impact" worked for the Clinton Administration. "Chief Brand Officer" Emilio Pardo worked for Democrat Fritz Hollings.

We found only one executive, John Rother, who once worked for a Republican--the late Senator John Heinz.

AARP is just another Washington special interest group that loves big government. They supported the "stimulus" bill. They want to allow drug re-importation from Canada, which would kill drug innovation.

Some say that AARP stands to gain financially from Obamacare, because most of their revenue comes not from membership dues, but from the sale of insurance polices (they put the the AARP name on health insurance polices from UnitedHealth and on life insurance from Aetna and Genworth.)

Meanwhle, apparently the AARP is, as Ed Morrissey notes, throwing in the towel on the public option but apparently ignoring the report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

The AARP hasn't addressed the analysis from the administrators of Medicare that show that ObamaCare means significant reductions in services to seniors and the disabled, thanks to massive cuts that will fund the rest of the program. As the Washington Post reported, the draconian cuts will likely push even more providers out of the Medicare market, making it much more difficult for seniors to get reliable and reasonable access to care.

Posted by Richard at November 25, 2009 1:34 PM

• John Stossel to O'Reilly: Quit the AARP - Nov 25, 2009