Burn, Baby, Burn

24 November 2003


AARP's Support for GOP Medicare Bills Annoys Some Members

In 1968, they burned their draft cards. Thirty-five years later, some baby-boomers are burning their American Association of Retired Persons membership cards. The one was a useless protest against a foolish war, the other a tantrum over how to get younger Americans to pay for the prescription drugs of seniors. The only winners, it seems, are the match sellers.

The Democrats are in a snit because the oldsters' lobby has been one of their pets until recently. However, the AARP is a lobbying group, which means they are interested in getting things done for their special interest (and everyone is a special interest). One cannot get things done by making a deal with the opposition. Instead, one must extract as much as possible out of the majority party before shaking hands on the compromise. It appears the AARP has done this.

Americans have no national healthcare insurance. It is grudgingly provided by many businesses (which keep trying to contain costs, cut benefits and otherwise hold the line on expenses for something someone else can better provide), and for the very poor there is Medicaid while the over 65s get Medicare. The new bill would create a prescription drug benefit for the seniors, and try to get private insurers to establish "preferred provider organizations," the hated HMOs by another name. The GOP yielded to the inevitable on prescriptions in exchange for pushing seniors into PPOs where profits can be made. AARP gave in on the PPOs in exchange for the prescription innovation, and with a mailing list in the millions, the AARP stands to earn some money from the PPOs. And the Democrats are outmaneuvered -- the choice is between offending the AARP by voting "nay" or joining the Bushites by voting "yea."

Hence, the membership card burnings, and the e-mails sent out by MoveOn.org urging members to quit and those too young to write AARP and say they'll never join. It could be that AARP has made a mistake, that the deal isn't sweet enough. But if the Democrats really want to force AARP to stay loyal, then the Democrats will have to do something they haven't done much of lately -- win elections.

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