ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

I do not support your stand on Obama heath care and I am likely going to cancel my membership.

One of a growing number of unhappy AARP customers.

Does AARP support a public option as part of the health care/insurance reform? Yes or no.

IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE "UNBIASED" INFORMATION FOR US? WHY IS AARP AVOIDING ANY REFERENCE TO THE "OTHER" SIDE OF THE DEBATE---FOX NEWS?
WE ALL KNOW THAT THE NEW YORK TIMES IS A LIBERAL LEFTIST FORM FOR NEWS! CAN WE NOT EXPECT MORE FROM OUR NEW AARP CEO, MR RAND?

For a start I really don't expect that anyone there will read this. The last time I sent AARP an Email I never heard a reply. That out of the way here it is.
How can you stand behind the Presidents proposed health care package when he is spending money like a drunk sailor? He is proposing taking billions out of medicare which is not funded well to start with. With all the billions given to private industry and taken away from seniors by not allowing a cost of living increase next year. What are you thinking? I didn't see AARP making their voice (OR MY VOICE) heard about that.
Should you continue down this road without thinking about what is wrong here I will not be renuing my membership.
I shall be watching how you perform.
Stan wolczyk

Apparently the FOX (so-called) NEWS crowd is angry at AARP because you have the audacity to base your decisions on the facts instead of FOX's lies and distortions, and to suggest that your members do the same. A tiny fraction of 1% of members are so angry that they have quit AARP over it.

Well, I'm not currently a member of AARP, but the day you endorse the President's proposal, my membership check will be in the mail, so I can join with you and the remaining 99.9% in doing what's right for seniors and all Americans.

Why is AARP ignoring the fact that the 12% of the population that are seniors are going to fund 40% of the costs of the proposed reforms? This will be achieved by reduction in the payment of Medicare fees to doctors and hospitals. Then we can look forward to trying to find a doctor or hospital that will accept Medicare. In effect there will be less care for us seniors.

Stand your ground, AARP! I understand concerns that people 65+ have about their Medicare benefits, but folks, at least you have Medicare benefits.

Fifteen percent of Americans have no health insurance at all, and that number grows daily through job loss and the cost of insurance.

The small business where I work has been struggling. We just got word that our insurance premiums will go up 42 percent in October. FORTY-TWO PERCENT. I'm a cancer survivor. What will I do if they have to cancel?

Thank you, AARP for taking a fact-based approach to health reform in the face of a lot of misinformation being fed to otherwise well-meaning people.

Lisa, age 50

Lou Goldstein has less than no brain. If 99% of the people support this wasteful plan, why won't AARP take an email poll (no cost to them) and support your BS. 60,000 members quit already. I'm not renewing (along with many thousands of others). No one (not even AARP) knows how many people won't renew. Why build a new healthcare system when we have the best in the world. Lou, you join AARP & you can be its only member! The president is an A**hole and next he wants to pass Cap and Tax legislation so YOU can pay more. This is part of the Democratic Power grab taking place, Lou but I guess you're not smart enough to figure it out.

Having lost my older brother to a fragmented and inefficient health care system on August 9th, I hope AARP continues to support insurance reform. Keep up the good work.

(The doctor paid by his employer's insurance company to treat a work related injury to his chest failed to mention the cancer visible on the x-rays. By the time my brother went to see his family doctor about the continued and increasing pain, he was in the terminal phase of the disease.)

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN2_wm.aspx

Having watched Congress distroy Social Security and give us a Medicare plan that does not entirely serve those for whom it was intended, it is troublesome to have AARP join those who respond only to the lobies of the insurance companies and lawyers who profit from the misfortunes of AARP's members. Congress got it right when they established Medicare Part C or Medicare Advantage plans. The NON-PROFIT Advantage plans work well and provide affordable services for those of us in our declining years (65+). And YES we pay a monthly premium for the good plans. If AARP or the President has a problem with these plans, the problem should be fixed and the plans NOT terminated.
I have seen much of what is wrong with private for profit administration of medical care and from my prospective the problem is with the insurance companies and the lawyers who pushed malpractice suits beyond all reasonable limits. I have not seen anything in the proposed legislation which addresses regulation or elimination of thes two major causes of medicines high cost.
Life insurance companies have long put caps on the loss of life, limb and eyesight. Malpractice should be be caped in a like manner. If an individual wants to increase the cap he should be capable of paying a higher premium for the chance of a higher award. PUT A CAP ON MALPRACTICE.
Each medical insurer has its own group of monitors, administrators, adjustors, and claim processing group. This is a very costly redundancy in common services which could be eliminated by centralized, computerized processing for all or a single payer if necessary. The minimum requirement should be that all insurers be NON-PROFIT.
Look at countries that do socialized medicine well and learn from them. Look at Germany and Switzerland. There is no need for us to reinvent the wheel and end up with another square rock. Use our tax $ effectivly and wisely. Let us have what we have payed for all of our working lives.
RMcF

I am concerned that AARP has made quantum leap decisions in supporting a health care proposal, which, while some parts may be in the interest of seniors, contains so many other ambiguous, questionable and downright unacceptable aspects. AARP has spent a great deal of time and (our) money advertising and pushing this agenda. How about spending a little more and simply sending out an e-mail poll of the membership to get actual feedback from us. Judging on how the AARP townhall meetings are going, I think that the AARP leadership simply does not want to know.

I see no bias in AARPs stance in this post. The recommended posts from from a Murdock owned paper (WSJ) and from the NYT. One can hardly call the WSJ a "liberal leftist form for news".

Those of you on medicare should worry what will happen if medical costs continue to increase faster than inflation as has been the case in our "best in the world" system. The continued drain on our economy will have to give some time. We'll see cuts in medicare and employer provided insurance. That of course will make those who are railing against socialized medicine (the GOP) happy. Remember, medicare is government provided health insurance.

I have been a long time member of AARP but will likely not renew my membership due to the position the organization continues to hold on the health care issue. I realize something needs to be done to reduce costs but fail to understand how AARP really believes the government can manage any program well. The approx. 2000 pages of the proposal are nearly impossible to understand. The immense governmental organization required to manage the program can only add additional cost to us, the tax payers. And, how can AARP support any proposal that likely would reduce Medicare benefits to us senior citizens, your members?

do not support your stand on Obama heath care and I am going to cancel my membership as soon as the business office opens on Friday 11-6-09!!!!!!

AARP is now a money grubbing, leach, not to be trusted to "represent anyone except themselves.

Well, count me out too. I am cancelling my membership.
I understand that some small parts of the obama health care bill are needed (selling acrross state lines and pre-existing conditions) but to support a really stupid idea like a socialist-government run health system is just well, not in the best interest of senior americans. I waited to see whether AARP would really endorse this in the end, but with todays announcement at the white house, it is clear. I am done with AARP as of now. Please cancel my membership.

What idiot in AARP decided to throw in with Pelosi? And, what did you gain from this action? I am ashamed and distressed that an organization I belong to has taken such a stand. So, cancel my membership, and I demand a refund of the dues I paid for the five year future memberships.
I am a combat wounded vet who shed my blood for this country and I refuse to follow fools, such as Pelosi and Reid, and now I can add AARP.

i cant belong to a org. that supports the most liberal,radical, anti-american president and his policies. have you done any research on his czars? they're marxist. count me and my wife out. cancel our membership immediately

I logged on for the express purpose of cancelling my membership. Guess what? The AARP website will allow you to join; it will allow you to renew; but it will NOT allow you to resign.

I am quitting because AARP does not represent me, nor does it care what a great many of its members are passionate about.

The Democratic Health Cafre "reform" is just another social engineering experiment which will cost the people who are paying taxes trillions, and remove some of the support for those seniors who can least afford it.

Shame on you AARP.

You can cancel my membership. You don't represent your members nor do your remain nonpartisan when you sign on to the worst health bill that ever emerged from the lobbyists that write all the bills. No one ever reads them to find out what it is going to do to the country let alone turn the country into a socialist governed by the true leftists.

In my opinion, aarp has joined the democratic party and the socialistic agenda of the present administration. Please cancel my membership and refund any remaining dues.

Please cancel my membership, like most other organizations that want an annual membership fee you can join, renew your membership online but you cannot cancel it.
AARP needs to use some good old Common Sense and read the 2,000 plus bill and then have a lawyer translate it and then I bet they would not endorse it.
PLEASE CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP IMMEDIATELY