The debate over health care reform has had an unexpected consequence for the nation’s largest membership lobbying organization for seniors, AARP. People are quitting, believing the group has embraced a partisan, left-wing agenda. Officials with the organization deny AARP has taken sides. But those officials appear unconcerned about the defections.
In a recent phone interview with Carolina Journal, Bob Garner, communications director for the North Carolina office of AARP, confirmed recent reports that 60,000 to 70,000 seniors nationally had canceled their membership since July 1 over concerns about the president’s health care reform proposals.
“I don’t have any specific numbers for North Carolina,” Garner said, “but with 40 million members in the organization, the number of people leaving isn’t that many. I don’t mean to downplay it because we don’t want to lose anyone, but I can tell you that the number of renewals is outpacing people leaving by 40-to-1 and new memberships are 8-to-1.”
When asked what reasons seniors are giving for leaving AARP, Garner said he personally reads and answers the e-mails and that “the only issue is health care.”
Garner summarized the responses as ranging “from polite to obscene. Most of the drops are coming more from the very conservative side, the ultra-conservative membership. They are racist. It seems to me they are mostly the ones who are sore that the election didn’t turn out their way.”
“A lot of these people [dropping out] just aren’t very sophisticated about what they understand,” Garner added, “they just sound like what they hear on talk radio.”
Videos from health care forums aired on Fox News, YouTube, and other sources show seniors ripping up their AARP cards in angry protest over President Obama’s proposals. Seniors have said that the reported end-of-life counseling provisions originally in H.R. 3200 — the main House health-care legislation — might emerge in a final bill. They’re also concerned that cuts in Medicare touted by Obama and Democratic leaders might limit access to physicians or services.
Asked why seniors join AARP, Garner said “most join to get member discounts, services, and other benefits like our high-quality publications. Many aren’t really interested in issues,” he said.
Member comments on AARP’s Web site tell a much different tale, showing many members are opposed to the president’s health care objectives.
A message from AARP President Jennie Chin Hansen saying the group will not support any reform that would deny seniors freedom of choice and claiming AARP’s policy agenda is driven by its members sparked outrage.
“So you act shocked and dumbfounded when a majority of your members believe AARP has become a mouth piece for the Socialist Left?” responded one member, adding that “the only reason so many have left AARP is because AARP has left its members.” One member even quoted passages from H.R. 3200 that counter Hansen’s claims.
In a phone interview, Bonnie, an AARP member in Pinehurst, said she joined a couple of years ago but will not be renewing her membership. “I do not want Obamacare or socialized medicine. The AARP talks out of both sides of their mouth. They say they don’t support it but Obama says they do support his plan. They support other policies that have nothing to do with seniors, and I don’t want my money supporting causes I don’t agree with.”
Financial records dispute nonpartisan claims
Still, Garner rejected the notion of AARP was picking sides in the debate. “We’re nonpartisan,” replied Garner, “and there is no Obama health care plan. That’s left up to Congress. Any position you take, or people think you take, you’ll lose members.”
Similarly on the AARP Web site, CEO Barry Rand wrote that “AARP has not endorsed any comprehensive health care reform bill.”
But financial and lobbying reports paint a different picture. In 2008, the AARP spent nearly $30 million on lobbying activities, of which $6.87 million was spent in the fourth quarter alone, according to lobbying disclosure reports obtained from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
AARP lobbied members of Congress on a wide range of issues, from fair pay, housing, and transportation to health care and climate change legislation.
AARP lobbied in favor of S. 3408, the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act, legislation that would create an independent, nonprofit institute to review medical research and determine the cost effectiveness of medical treatments, procedures, tests, and drugs.
The institute proposed in S. 3408 would be the American equivalent of Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) that advises the government-run National Health System, according to a July editorial in the Wall Street Journal.
“What NICE has become in practice is a rationing board,” the Journal said. In its effort to reduce burgeoning healthcare costs, NICE limits the treatments that Britain’s 61 million citizens are allowed to receive.
Seniors and patients with life-threatening illness are the ones most at risk under this system because the board uses a mathematical formula to determine a “quality adjusted life year.” The board has determined that “Britain cannot afford to spend more than about $22,000 to extend a life by six months,” the Journal stated. As a result, survival rates for cancer patients are much lower in Britain than in the U.S.
Critics say AARP receives millions of dollars each year in grants from the federal government, which it gives to other organizations, including the AARP Foundation, to lobby for left-leaning issues.
According to its IRS Form 990, AARP awarded $28.6 million in grants to other governments and organizations in 2008 and $21.6 million to the AARP Foundation.
For example, AARP gave $10,000 to the Center for American Progress Action, a Washington-based progressive think-tank headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff to former President Clinton. The center has lobbied for universal health care as well as the Employee Free Choice Act and granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.
The Washington, DC-based Independent Sector received $15,000. This group supports the proposed health care “compromise” bill from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. One provision would grant nonprofit employees equitable treatment by providing them the same healthcare benefits, options, and prices as federal employees receive.
The Republican Main Street Partnership, a coalition of mostly moderate Republicans, received $25,000. Its elected members include Senators Susan Collins and Olympia (Me.), and John McCain (Ariz.), along with Reps. Mary Bono Mack (Calif.) and Jim Gerlach (Pa.), and California Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger.
Alternative Advocacy Group for Seniors
Seniors seeking a conservative alternative to AARP are finding on in the American Seniors Association. The organization’s Web site reports more than 10,000 new members have joined since Aug. 1. Many of these new members, wrote President Stuart Barton, were “disgusted former members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).”
“At one recent AARP meeting, the moderator shut off the microphone to stifle Obamacare questions and concerns,” Barton said. “That speaks volumes. It underscores why the AARP is losing so many members, why ASA is getting so many torn-up AARP cards in our mail and why our new group’s membership is growing every day.”
Phil Kent, a spokesperson for ASA, said in a phone interview that his group has seen a big spike in membership, especially in the Southeast, though he didn’t have specific numbers for North Carolina. “ASA offers the same benefits as the AARP. Seniors can go to our Web site (www.americanseniors.org) and compare what we offer versus the AARP.”
Karen McMahan is a contributor to Carolina Journal.
[Editor’s note: Bob Garner was mistakenly identified as Bill Garner in the original version of this article.]