Re: NYTimes/Krugman: AARP gone astray ["corrupted"?]

"Sufaud" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> November 21, 2003
> OP-ED COLUMNIST
>
> AARP Gone Astray
> By PAUL KRUGMAN
>
> "This is a good bill that will help every Medicare beneficiary," wrote
> Tom Scully, the Medicare administrator, in a letter to The New York
> Times defending the prescription drug bill. That's flatly untrue. (Are
> you surprised?) As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points
> out, the bill will force millions of beneficiaries to pay more for
> drugs, thanks to a provision that cuts off supplemental aid from
> Medicaid. Poorer recipients may find previously affordable drugs
> moving out of reach.
>
> That's only one of a number of anti-retiree measures tucked away in
> the bill. It contains several Trojan horse provisions that are clearly
> intended to undermine Medicare over time - it will allow private
> insurers to cherry-pick healthy clients in selected cities, and it
> will heavily subsidize private plans competing with traditional
> Medicare. Meanwhile, the bill prohibits Medicare from using its
> bargaining power to cut drug prices; drug company stocks have soared
> since the bill's details became public.
>
> Yet the bill has a good chance of passing, thanks to an endorsement
> from AARP, the retiree advocacy organization, which has already begun
> an expensive advertising campaign on the bill's behalf. What's going
> on?
>
> Let's step back a minute. This is a bill with huge implications for
> the future of Medicare. It's also, at best, highly controversial. One
> might therefore have expected an advocacy group for retired Americans
> to take its time in responding - to make sure that major groups oA
> retirees won't actually be hurt, and to poll its members to be sure
> that they are well informed about what the bill contains and don't
> object to it.
>
> Instead, AARP has thrown its weight behind an effort to ram the bill
> through before Thanksgiving. And no, it's not urgent to get the bill
> passed so retirees can get immediate relief. The plan won't kick in
> until 2006 in any case, so no harm will be done if the nation takes
> some time to consider.
>
> Many of AARP's members feel betrayed. The message boards at the
> organization's Web site have filled up with outraged posts. A number
> of those posts say something like this: "Now you're just an insurance
> company." Indeed, that may get to the heart of the matter.
>
> ...
>
> article at
> http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/opinion/21KRUG.html

   I throw away any information I get from the AARP even though I joined.
Their magazine sucks too.  And of course Republicans want to let the AMA
force profits up to maximum levels....the rich always protect the rich.