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Surprising Talk From AARP on Health Care Reform

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Surprising Talk From AARP on Health Care Reform

The American Association of Retired Persons, now just called AARP, has been around since 1958. It started as a teacher's retirement group but when an insurance salesman approached the founder about offering insurance to its members he saw the opportunity to open it up to all people over the age of 50.

"AARP is not an insurer and does not pay insurance claims. Instead, AARP allows its name to be used by insurance companies in the sale of insurance products, for which it is paid a commission like an insurance agent"Per AARP's 2008 Consolidated Financials, it was paid $652,000,000 in royalties from insurance companies that sold products referred by AARP. Per those same financials AARP received an additional $120,000,000 for the ads placed in its publications. (Wikipedia)

That is why it has become expected that AARP would always come out on the side of the insurance companies on all issues relating to health insurance and in particular the health care reform debate that has swept the nation, and in fact they have dismissed single-payer as not an option and don't take seriously any calls for it. But if you look at the September issue of AARP Bulletin you might be surprised to see three separate articles that not only support radical change in the health care system but they also throw under the bus those who have been spreading and/or repeating myths and lies about proposed reform legislation.

For example:

"Overhauling the nation's ailing health care system is too important to be trivialized by the sort of rhetoric we've been hearing lately"Instead, we've seen a free-for-all of careless exaggeration, retooled social issues, partisan posturing and the revival of a time-worn "socialized medicine shibboleth that didn't work 50 years age and is out of date today"In 1963, there was Ronald Reagan's ultimately unsuccessful argument that a government-operated medical program for older people was the first step to socialized medicine and eventually to a socialistic state. His grim forecast: "You and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. " From "Stop Talking and Start Thinking , Jim Toedtman

Yes, that was in AARP Bulletin! As was this:

"While America's health care system is known for research and innovation, it unfortunately costs too much, wastes too much, makes too many mistakes and gives us back too little value for our money"The cost of doing nothing is unacceptable. Without reform, a family's premiums for health insurance will almost double by 2016 to over $24,000. Medicare enrollees have already seen their premiums more than double this decade, and they already spend a third of their income on out-of-pocket health costs"There has been a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering in this debate. From allegations about rationing care to wild reports of government-sponsored euthanasia, the rumors just keep getting crazier. Haven't we all had enough?...We urge you to make your voice heard. Tell Congress not to let myths get in the way of fixing health care. " From "Health Reform: The Time to Act Is Now , A. Barry Rand, CEO & Jennie Chin Hansen, President

And this article titled "The Assault on Truth actually sounds supportive of Obama:

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A graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo with an MBA in 1980, John went into the banking business from 1981-1991. John went into the gymnastics business with his wife, with whom he has two children, in 1992 and grew it enough (more...)
 

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