Obamacare: Why AARP $old Out Seniors

The American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), an organization that represents seniors, owes its members an explanation of why it lobbied for healthcare reform that will strip billions of dollars from Medicare, threatening the solvency of the entitlement program.

Under Obamacare, the federal government will siphon an estimated $575 billion from Medicare to fund other parts of the healthcare law. The shearing will weaken Medicare, already burdened with an unfunded liability of $38 trillion.

AARP, with a membership of 35 million, used its financial and political muscle to help shove through Obamacare in 2010.  At the time, independent polling showed a majority of seniors did not support government takeover of the healthcare industry.

In exchange for its backing, the interest group obtained a sweetheart financial deal in the new healthcare law.  Under Obamacare, AARP will have a competitive advantage in peddling what's called Medigap insurance, which covers services and treatments Medicare doesn't.

That's no small matter because one-fourth of all seniors are currently covered by Medicare Advantage plans offered by private insurers. These firms are AARP's largest competitors in the field of Medigap insurance.  Changes inserted into Obamacare gifted AARP with a financial windfall.

But the Obama Administration's political favors didn't end there.  The Health and Human Services Department has granted AARP a waiver, exempting the group from government oversight of the price it charges seniors for Medigap coverage.  Private insurers have no such arrangement.

If there appears to be a disconnect, that's because AARP leads a schizophrenic existence.  On one hand, it professes to be a non-profit, supposedly non-partisan, organization.  But it also has a marketing arm that sells for-profit services, including insurance, investments and retirement planning.

Although AARP rakes in millions of dollars from its members, the organization feeds at the government trough.  Last year, taxpayers forked over $585 million to AARP in federal grants and Medicare payments.  Without taxpayer assistance, AARP would scramble to break-even.

With a hand-picked Obama donor in charge at AARP,  the group scooped up an $18 million grant as part of the economic stimulus package in 2009.   It needed the money because the organization spends lavishly, including frittering away $80 million annually for lobbying activities.

Most AARP members are clueless about the organization's advocacy campaigns.  Membership mostly views AARP as a source for discounts at hotels, restaurants, pharmacies and other firms. They are in for a rude awakening once they discover the impact Obamacare will have on their health care.

As a result of Medicare reductions and new requirements imposed on physicians, seniors' access to health care services will be effected. Many physicians are already posting signs in their waiting rooms warning they will no longer accept new Medicare patients.

To make matters worse, Obamacare will trim the reimbursements physicians receive for treatment and services.  Medicare currently pays less than private insurers for the same treatment and services.  Obamacare will exacerbate the difference, forcing doctors to shun Medicare patients.

There are countless other adverse changes, including rationing of cancer treatment based on a patient's age.  Another revision puts new restrictions on emergency room admissions paid for by Medicare. Unless a patient's primary physician orders emergency care, the government will not pay.

As a result, seniors best days for health care are behind them.  Beginning in 2014, they will bear the burden of President Obama's costly $2 trillion experiment in government health care.  Seniors have suffered a cold calculated betrayal at the hands of profit-hungry AARP and the president.