AARP Didn’t Like Obama Mentioning Their Name During Presidential Debate

Talk about ironic. The AARP supported Obama’s push for Obamacare but didn’t like Obama mentioning their name during the debate.

From Daily Caller:

DENVER – The AARP ripped President Barack Obama for using the organization’s name to support himself politically during Wednesday evening’s presidential debate.

“While we respect the rights of each campaign to make its case to voters, AARP has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or political campaign,” AARP vice president John Hishta said in a statement immediately after the debate. “AARP is a nonpartisan organization, and we do not endorse political candidates nor coordinate with any candidate or political party.”

Except for working with Team Obama and being rewarded with $$$$.

The president mentioned AARP to support his attack on Romney’s Medicare plan.

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AARP still screwing Seniors by opposing increases to Medicare copayments for financial gains

The AARP supported ObamaCare strictly based on their own financial gains. ObamaCare cut $500 billion out of the Medicare program to fund itself and the AARP saw dollar signs because seniors would turn to them to purchase Medicare suppliment insurance. It was another pay-t0-play scheme tied to the Obama regime.

The AARP doesn’t want Congress to increase Medicare copayments because it hits their bottom line.

From the Daily Caller:

The AARP, formerly the The American Association of Retired Persons, sent U.S. senators a letter last week asking them to oppose any increases in Medicare copayments.

They’re doing it because they truly care!

But the self-described pro-senior group hasn’t acknowledged that it has a financial stake in the debate’s outcome.

Several debt-ceiling plans floated in the House and the Senate have included the possibility of increasing existing copayment amounts or adding copayments to certain Medicare services that haven’t charged them before, including in-home health care.

Another floated idea which could potentially damage the AARP financially is one in which Medigap plans would no longer cover seniors’ Medicare copayments.

Medigap plans are supplemental health insurance coverage options that seniors can purchase in addition to their Medicare plans.

The AARP collects 4.95 percent of every dollar United HealthCare takes in from AARP members’ Medigap plan premiums. Not allowing Medigap plans to cover seniors’ Medicare copayment costs is a disincentive for AARP members to continue purchasing the supplemental coverage.

In its letter to Congress, the AARP made no mention of any financial stake it may have in the debate over changes to Medicare copayment arrangements. An AARP spokesperson refused to answer when The Daily Caller asked for a clarification about whether or not the group believed it could be financially affected by the result.

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The Politically Connect Contiue to reap rewards for supporting ObamaCare: Democrats omit section of ObamaCare that would have stopped AARP from Discriminating against Seniors with Pre-Existing Conditions

AARP supported and pitched ObamaCare. They received kickbacks and special favors for doing so. Remember, we have to pass the bill to see what’s inside it, as Nancy Pelosi infamously said.

From The DC:

The Daily Caller has learned that Democratic lawmakers omitted a section of Obamacare in the summer of 2009 that would have stopped Medigap plan providers, including American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) partners, from discriminating against seniors with pre-existing conditions.

Democrats removed a section that would have required “guaranteed issue,” or coverage regardless of preexisting conditions, for Medigap plans from an early version of the Obamacare bill.

Medigap plans are supplemental coverage that Medicare recipients may purchase. They insure seniors a step further than the basic Medicare coverage.

TheDC has obtained an early copy of the Obamacare bill, dated June 19, 2009, which shows the bill’s original authors had intended to stop AARP partners and other Medigap providers from discriminating against seniors. But, at some point between then and early fall 2009 when Democrats introduced the bill into the House, that provision was removed.

A House Democratic aide told Kaiser Health News (KHN) earlier this year that the Medigap provision was removed from the bill because it cost too much.

The “provision to provide disabled Medicare beneficiaries better coverage was dropped from the legislation during congressional negotiations because it would have increased Medicare costs, according to a House Democratic congressional aide,” wrote KHN’s Susan Jaffe on March 7. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the exact cost of the provision was $4.1 billion.

The most corrupt, unconstitutional bill continues to be exposed for the fraud it is.

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Waivers for Favors: AARP receives ObamaCare Waiver and Cashes in on supporting the Unconstitutional Health Care Bill

Support Obama, the Democrats and ObamaCare and you too can receive a health care waiver and billions of dollars. The pay-to-play scheme continues.

From The Daily Caller:

The Daily Caller has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rate review rules, which it finalized on Thursday, exempt “Medigap” policy providers, like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), from oversight when such providers increase payment rates for their supplemental insurance plans.

Insurance providers who aren’t exempt from Obamacare’s rate review rules are required to publicly release and explain some health care payment rate increases.

The AARP is the nation’s biggest seller of Medigap policies, or supplemental healthcare plans that add onto what Medicare won’t cover for seniors. The senior citizens interest group advocated for Obamacare to include an attack on Medigap policies’ biggest competitor, Medicare Advantage.

Though the White House and HHS dismiss allegations of political favoritism when it comes to who’s getting exceptions from the new health care regulations – such as in the recent uproar over the disproportionate number of Obamacare waivers that went to companies in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district — Obamacare critics say the mere appearance of the administration helping friends is disturbing.

The AARP was a driving force behind getting Obamacare through Congress, contributing a large sum to the $121 million advertising campaign pushing it, and spending millions more lobbying for it on Capitol Hill.

…The senior citizen advocacy organization stands to make huge profits from Medicare Advantage cuts and from the exemptions it will benefit from when it comes to the Medigap plans sold under what AARP CEO A. Barry Rand calls the AARP’s “for-profit side.”

The AARP’s support of Obamacare during the debate over the legislation raised lots of eyebrows nationwide, as President Obama called for $313 billion in cuts to Medicare to push the plan through. Seniors weren’t happy about it, and many ripped AARP representatives at town hall meetings nationwide.

Now, though, it’s clear that the AARP is set to make millions, if not billions, of extra dollars in Medigap plan sales moving forward because they’ve effectively knocked out their biggest competitor, Medicare Advantage, through Obamacare.

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Investigation into Secret Meetings between White House, Special Interest Groups and Unions before the passing of ObamaCare heats up

Oh shit...the gig is up...Im a special interest whore.

Now why would the most transparent White House refuse to release the names of the groups they meet with before the passing of ObamaCare? Obama’s lawyer said it was just to “time-consuming.” That is code for “we have something to hide.”

The Daily Caller reports:

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton is expanding his investigation into the meetings between special interest groups and the Obama White House that set the stage for the passage of Obamacare, sending document requests to 12 industry groups and unions that played a key role in the negotiations.

In April 18 letters to the groups, Upton asks for extensive details and documents about each organization’s interactions with the White House in regards to the health care law.

The requests come as the Obama White House has so far declined to provide its documents about the meetings.

At issue are special deals struck between interest groups and President Obama to either garner the support of major industry sectors or soften their criticism of the health care law.

In one major instance, the pharmaceutical drug sector agreed to back the legislation as long as the costs to that sector did not exceed $80 billion. The drug sector eventually spent over $100 million on television advertisements touting the law.

Bribes by the White House? That is just unheard of unless you know about the Louisanna Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback and all the job offers from the White House. How about this Obama promise: “I’ll allow the drug companies to have a seat at the table, but they just won’t be able to buy every chair,” Obama said, decrying the overt influence of special interests.

The industry groups and unions subject to Upton’s request are AARP, AFL-CIO, AdvaMed, AFSCME, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Business Roundtable, Federation of American Hospitals, PHRMA, and SEIU.

Who sold out Americans to these special interest groups? OBAMA…OBAMA! Most of these groups who helped pimp ObamaCare also received ObamaCare waivers. Coincidence? 

Feb. 18, Upton wrote to Nancy-Ann DeParle, who served as Obama’s health care reform “czar” during the period during which Obamacare was considered in Congress and has since been promoted to the president’s deputy chief of staff, requesting a range of documents relating to meetings and negotiations over the health care law.

The letter requested a list of staff working for the White House Office of Health Reform, a list of their meetings on health care with special interest groups, notes or minutes from those meetings and all written communications between the White House and outside groups on changes to the health care system.

In response, White House counsel Robert Bauer suggested the inquiry was too time consuming to comply with.

Got to love that Obama transparency. The man and his administration are the biggest frauds in American political history.

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How much $$$ will AARP rake in for supporting ObamaCare? $1 Billion

An 18-month congressional investigation into AARP reveals that the organization stands to make more than $1 billion over the next 10 years from Obamacare, a law the seniors lobby supported despite opposition among its core constituency.

Bloomberg.com reports:

A group of House Republicans said seniors lobby AARP will gain as much $1 billion over the next decade from the 2010 health care overhaul it supported and should have its tax-exempt status investigated.

AARP represents 37 million people ages 50 and over in the U.S. Its gains will come from insurance products it endorses and that will attract customers under the health law, a group of Republicans on the House Ways and Means committee said in a report released today.

“AARP operates in direct opposition to the needs of their senior membership,” said Representative Wally Herger, a California Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Health subcommittee. “We think they ought to know what we’ve uncovered.”

…The AARP is one the largest lobbying groups in the U.S., with $1.09 billion in revenue in 2009, according to documents filed with the IRS.

AARP lobbied for policies that would benefit its bottom line, not its members, according to the report. Cuts to Medicare Advantage, the private version of Medicare run by health insurers, would push more people into the program’s supplemental products such as one provided under AARP’s brand, which offers extra coverage on top of the government’s Medicare program.

David Certner, AARP’s top lobbyist in Washington, said that the group supported the cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage in the health law as a way to extend the life of the program, which provides health coverage to Americans ages 65 and over. “We’re concerned about the long-term solvency of Medicare and its financial condition. We want to make sure Medicare is paying out proper rates,” he said during a conference call with reporters discussing the report.

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AARP Receives Huge Payoff for Supporting ObamaCare (Video)

Just more news about the bribes some receive for supporting ObamaCare.

All the lies, bribes and waivers continue to prove this bill isn’t as great as some on the left have claimed.

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AARP Hikes Employee Healthcare Premiums

Talk about ironic. The AARP backed ObamaCare and now its employees are going to suffer from higher insurance premiums. This is what you get when you sell your approval.

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – AARP’s endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now the seniors’ lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law.

In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.

And AARP adds that it’s changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law. Aerospace giant Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.

“Most plan co-pays and deductibles have been modified,” Jennifer Hodges, AARP’s director of compensation and benefits, wrote employees in an Oct. 25 e-mail. “Plan value changes were necessary not only from a cost management standpoint but also to ensure that AARP’s plans fall below the threshold for high-cost group plans under health care reform.”

Now, why on Earth would the Associated Press not run this story before the November elections?

AARP officials said medical inflation is the main reason employee costs will be going up. The health care law is “a small part,” said David Certner, legislative affairs director.

Although the tax on so-called “Cadillac” health care plans doesn’t take effect for years, employers are already beginning to assess their potential exposure because it is hefty: at 40 percent of the value above $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for a family plan. The tax is intended as a savings measure, to prod employers and workers into more cost-efficient plans.

Certner said AARP’s plans are currently under the threshold for the tax. “We intend to stay below those thresholds,” he said. “It’s not in anybody’s interest to move above those thresholds, not the employees’ nor the employer’s.”

AARP officials say the organization’s public policy recommendations are made independently of other considerations, including its range of business ventures, from travel, to insurance, to publishing.

The 40 million-strong AARP represents people 50 and older, including retirees on Medicare and Social Security. Its endorsement of health care overhaul came at a critical time last year, days before a close vote on the House floor.

“The impact on AARP employees is not a factor at all in our policy making, which is directed at the impact on our membership and on all older Americans,” said Certner.

About 4,500 people are covered by AARP’s plans, including employees, dependents and retirees.

“We supported the (health care) package because it contained incredibly important protections for our younger members, who often have problems getting access to care,” said spokesman Jim Dau. “And because it helps our older members in Medicare with important new benefits.”

AARP warned its employees that more cost-shifting could be in store. “AARP intends to make similar changes, as necessary, in the future to avoid the (health plan) tax,” said Hodges’ e-mail.

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Department Of Health And Human Services errs on Medicare Advantage

Only after Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) challenged HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ claim that under Obamacare ”there will be more Medicare Advantage plans to choose from,” the HHS changed Sebelius’ online statement to read “there will be more meaningful choices.”

 

Lying is part of Sebelius’ ‘re-education plan.’ Taking $500 billion out of Medicare is going to limit those choices when physicians decide to stop taking Medicare patients due to low government payment.

 

Politico reports:

The Department of Health and Human Services quietly changed the web version of a speech in which HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described how the health care overhaul is going to affect Medicare Advantage plans, a controversial section of the law, after aides to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) challenged its accuracy.

Sebelius had told an AARP conference in Orlando last week that next year “there will be more Medicare Advantage plans to choose from,” according to prepared remarks e-mailed to reporters and posted on HHS’s website on Monday. Grassley’s staff asked HHS to back up the statement, an aide to the senator, who has long been skeptical of Democrats’ claims about the health law’s impact, told POLITICO.

As Grassley’s office was drafting a formal letter to Sebelius questioning the claim, the speech text was altered on the HHS web site without noting the change. The statement about more Medicare Advantage plans was deleted and now reads, “there will be more meaningful choices.”

HHS confirmed the mistake, which it said was inadvertent. The speech was changed without any comment, though a spokeswoman said Thursday that the site will be further updated to acknowledge the change.

“When HHS was alerted that there was an error in the prepared remarks that were posted online, we corrected it,” said HHS spokesperson Jessica Santillo. “However, the fact that the speech had been updated should have been clearly indicated on the website. We are in the process of updating the website as quickly as possible to indicate this.”

Got to hide the truth or you can’t re-educate the dumb Americans.

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PC Police Attack Member of Obama’s Deficit Commission for saying Social Security is like a milk cow with 310 tits

Let me understand this. A republican makes a comment about Social Security being like a milk cow with 310 million tits, and he is asked to resign from Obama’s deficit commission? Where were these PC police when Harry Reid made his “light-skinned” and “no negro dialect” comment? Where are these same hypocrite on the subject of health care rationing comments made by Obama appointee Dr. Donald Berwick?

What Alan Simpson said is factually true. Most Americans look to Social Security to fund their full retirement. Social Security was designed to be a supplement for retirement. Now that Social Security is paying out more than it takes in, Americans have to realize that the system needs to be changed.

Reuters reports:

The co-chairman of a commission on the U.S. budget deficit came under fire on Wednesday after an off-color remark that likened the payment of government retirement benefits to milking cows.

Women’s groups and some lawmakers called for the resignation of Alan Simpson, a Republican who serves on the bipartisan deficit panel created by President Barack Obama.

Simpson wrote this week in an email to one of his critics the Social Security retirement program has reached the point “where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits.”

He later issued an apology for the comment.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Representative Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, said the comments were “beyond comprehension” and demeaned older Americans and disabled people who receive Social Security benefits. They wrote to Obama to ask that Simpson be removed from the commission.

Two socialist progressive Democrats claim Simpson’s remark is “beyond comprehension.” Where were they on the comments made by KKK-leader, and Democrat, Robert Byrd and his “beyond comprehension” comments about black Americans? Hypocrites.

The National Organization for Women said Simpson was “not fit to lead” the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

NOW is the same group who push woman to abort millions of little women every years. In their book, opinions are bad while murder is fine and dandy.

The former senator from Wyoming made the comment about milking cows in an e-mail this week to Ashley Carson, executive director of the Older Women’s League, which identifies itself as representing the interests of middle-aged and older women.

Simpson’s e-mail took issue with a column Carson wrote in April accusing him of “ageism and sexism” for considering cuts to Social Security.

Where is the Older Women’s League outrage about Obama and the Democrats cutting $500 billion from Medicare to pay for their socialized health care bill?

“If you have some better suggestions about how to stabilize Social Security instead of just babbling into the vapors, let me know,” wrote Simpson, 78, adding, “Call me when you get honest work.”

Simpson, known for his biting sense of humor, wrote an apology letter to Carson, saying he had put his foot in his mouth and adding “when I make a mistake, it’s a doozy.”

“I apologize for what I wrote,” he said.

CALL FOR RESIGNATION

OWL has said Simpson should resign from the panel, and if he will not, that Obama should ask him to leave.

Simpson serves alongside Erskine Bowles, a Democrat and former White House chief of staff, and 16 other panelists.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said of the Simpson controversy, “He has apologized and while we regret and do not condone his comments, we accept his apology and he will continue to serve.”

AARP, which represents older Americans, said the remarks called into question Simpson’s ability to consider important fiscal matters such as the future of Social Security.

The same AARP who sold their support to ObamaCare for a few special deals?

“Sen. Simpson’s remarks not only cross the line of good judgment, but they undermine the serious work of the commission and give us little confidence the commission can fairly look at important programs such as Social Security,” the group said in a statement.

Social Security is in the red by $694,000,000,000. It is the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. There is no money in the system. It’s all IOU’s thanks to politicians who raided the system to pay for other entitlements. Let’s keep things the way they are so Social Security will end faster. That’s what these Progressive Socialists Democrats want.

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