Going after AARP

My, they really are hypocrites of the highest degree, aren’t they? After all the water they carried for the insurance industry for Medicare Part B, and during the health care debate, they’re going to try to pin AARP for making money on insurance? What happened to their much-loved free market? Guess it only works when the businesses support the Republicans!

I’m not always a fan of AARP (they walk too fine a line between consumer interests and their own financial interests, but they do provide affordable insurance to people who otherwise couldn’t get it), but the enemy of my enemy is my friend:

Newly empowered House Republicans are getting ready to renew their attacks against AARP over its support for the healthcare reform law, The Hill has learned.

The Ways and Means health and oversight subcommittees are hauling in the seniors lobby’s executives before the panel for an April 1 hearing on how the group stands to benefit from the law, among other topics. Republicans say AARP supported the law’s $200 billion in cuts to the Medicare Advantage program because it stands to gain financially as seniors replace their MA plans with Medicare supplemental insurance — or Medigap — policies endorsed by the association.

The hearing will cover not only Medigap but “AARP’s organizational structure, management, and financial growth over the last decade.”

An embarrassing hearing would not only hit AARP back for its support of the law, but fits in with the GOP’s mantra that the law was written behind closed doors to favor Democratic allies. And policy-wise, it could empower Republicans to tackle Medigap policies, which many conservatives want to reform because they believe they contribute to over-utilization of the medical system by reducing out-of-pocket contributions.

Imagine old people actually going to the doctor’s, taking care of their health and extending their lifespan. Shame on them!

Two Ways and Means Republicans — Reps. Wally Herger (Calif.), the No. 2 Republican on the panel, and Dave Reichert (Wash.) — led the charge against the seniors group during the healthcare reform debate, along with then-Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (Fla.).

“AARP unfortunately has become a mouthpiece for this president at the expense of what is best for America’s seniors,” Brown-Waite wrote in a letter to the association at the time.

The AARP’s support for healthcare reform “just doesn’t make sense” until “you dig a little deeper and see that [a lot] of their revenues come from these royalties,” Reichert told The Hill during the healthcare reform debate. “And if Medicare Advantage does go away, they may gain millions of dollars in additional royalties.”

Just breathtaking, the hypocrisy.