Medicare—on its current path—cannot be sustained. At a recent hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Ranking Member Senator Bob Corker (R–TN) stressed the importance of Medicare reform. According to Corker, in 2011, “The U.S. spent $572 billion on Medicare, and spending is projected to increase to $1 trillion in 2021.” The relationship between the amount citizens pay in to Medicare and the benefits they receive presents another losing equation for taxpayers. If an average couple combined makes $87,000 a year, they will pay $119,000 (including their employers’ …
In its latest video railing against reform of Medicare and Social Security, AARP pushes for a pinch hitter to solve Washington’s spending problem—and a poor one at that. The organization charges Congress to cut wasteful spending and close tax loopholes instead of reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits. Once again, they get it wrong on how to balance the budget and put the nation on a fiscally sustainable path. Congress can work to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse to demonstrate it is serious about controlling spending and using taxpayer dollars …
AARP’s latest video opposing spending reductions in Social Security or Medicare once again pushes the flawed argument that cutting federal budget waste and loopholes would effectively address America’s unsustainable fiscal problems. A senior featured in the video asks, “With billions in waste and loopholes, how could they look at us?” Yes, there is substantial government waste that Congress can eliminate, but that shouldn’t be a substitute for real entitlement reform. Spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—the three main entitlement programs—represents more than half of the entire federal budget today and …
Treadmills for shrimp and poetry in zoos. The AARP recently decried these examples of government spending as part of a recent TV campaign against Medicare and Social Security reform proposals. AARP says that in order to balance the budget, Congress should consider cutting funding for these types of programs, instead of considering Medicare and Social Security reform. AARP’s campaign refuses to acknowledge that current Medicare and Social Security spending is on an unsustainable path. Getting the nation’s spending—and ultimately the debt—under control cannot be done solely by cutting funding for …
Health care reform was supposed to “bend the cost curve” in health care and reduce the amount that American families pay in health care premiums. This was the message the nation received from proponents of the new law, which included organizations such as AARP. But now the group, whose membership includes 40 million Americans over the age of 50, is telling its employees a different story. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, writing for the AP, recently reported that AARP informed its 4,500 employees in an email that, “Health care premiums will increase by …
AARP has endorsed the Pelosi health bill, H.R. 3962, but in reviewing the list of ten reasons it has given for its support and comparing those reasons to the bill itself, its advocacy for the legislation seems misplaced. There is a massive disconnect between several of the reasons for support and the bill itself. The inconsistencies include: Protecting and strengthening Medicare—the bill cuts Medicare payments to providers including hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies which AARP historically has not viewed as protecting the program. Moreover, the bill does not …
The Washington Post reports today: The nation’s preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans. But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group’s substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals. The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the …
