AARP promotes health care reform

[BirminghamExaminer]

The right wing is attacking President Obama for saying the AARP endorses health care reform. The truth is that AARP IS promoting health care reform and is urging people to call their congressmen, etc. Here's an excerpt from 5 myths debunked by the AARP:

Myth: Health care reform is too expensive – we can't afford it.

* Fact: The President and Congress have committed to producing legislation that will be paid for so it won't saddle our children and grandchildren with debt.
* Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, families with Medicare or employer-based health coverage will likely see their premiums nearly double again in the next seven years.
* Fact: If we do nothing to fix health care, the share of your income spent on health care will nearly double in the next seven years.
* Bottom Line: When one in three Americans say someone in their family skipped pills, postponed or cut back on needed medical care due to the cost; when countless bankruptcies are related to medical expenses; when the number of uninsured approaches 50 million; when government spending on health programs rises so rapidly that it jeopardizes other priorities; and when employers struggle to pay for the costs of health care, the fact is, we can't afford not to fix health care.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. They arent. It's impossible. Too many people here have told me...

...that AARP is the problem for such a statement to be true.

Anything I hear a lot on this board is true, right?

[BirminghamExaminer]

2. So the AARP is being attacked from all sides....hmmmm....

I read their health care advocacy and while it is their purpose to work for people over age 50, it seems just as clear that they are advocating health care reform for all Americans.

[BirminghamExaminer]

3. The bottom line is that at least half the screamers at town hall

meetings are in that age group and they need to get their facts straight about health care reform. The elderly are most vulnerable to being manipulated and frightened by the whackjob emails they get telling them they're going to have to go to death camps if we get health care reform.

[flyarm]

4. not so fast..AARP is not endorsing this ..

AARP tells Obama: No health plan endorsement yet
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

(08-11) 15:32 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

A group usually seen as one of Barack Obama's allies in the health care debate — AARP — says the president went too far Tuesday when he said the seniors lobby had endorsed the legislation pending in Congress.

AARP is sensitive to the issue because polls show that Medicare beneficiaries are worried their health care program will be cut to subsidize coverage for the uninsured.

At the town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., Obama said, "We have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors." He added, "AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare."

But Tom Nelson, AARP's chief operating officer, said, "Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate."

Like Obama, AARP wants action this year to cover the uninsured and restrain health care costs, but the organization has refrained from endorsing legislation. Nelson said AARP would not endorse a bill that reduces Medicare benefits.

A spokesman said the Medicare cuts that have been proposed so far would not affect benefits.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/11...

[bemildred]

5. There is no way a reformed health care system is going to be more expensive

than the bloated boondoggle that we have now. The present system is the reason that we pay more than anybody in the world (per capita) for second and third world levels of health care.

[Doctor_J]

6. This is kind of Orwellian. AARP is basically a retailer for United Health

weird