[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               AARP GETS FREE PASS IN HEALTH CARE DEBATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, does America's biggest senior citizens 
organization, AARP, get a free pass in the ongoing health care reform 
debate?
  Speaker Pelosi recently called insurance companies ``immoral 
villains,'' and Senator Jay Rockefeller derided their tactics as 
``rapacious,'' yet the majority has simultaneously relied on an 
organization that has received billions of dollars in windfall profits 
from those same insurers as an ``independent'' source to support their 
government takeover of health care--AARP.
  The Democrat majority has even relied on AARP's support for 
legislation, S. 1776, that would increase the Federal debt by nearly 
$250 billion to fund physician reimbursements, even though the bill 
would raise seniors' Medicare premiums by over $60 billion. AARP 
opposed unpaid-for legislation as recently as December for the very 
same reason.
  An analysis of Democrats' rhetoric and actions provides evidence why 
AARP may have changed its position. In exchange for its support of a 
government takeover of health care, AARP has received special 
considerations regarding several provisions in health reform 
legislation that could benefit the organization quite handsomely.
  While the AARP Web site claims that the organization supports 
``guaranteeing that all individuals and groups wishing to purchase or 
renew coverage can do so regardless of age or preexisting conditions,'' 
a review of the New York State Insurance Commissioner's Web site finds 
that AARP-branded Medigap coverage imposes a 6-month waiting period for 
individuals with preexisting conditions. Yet section 111 of H.R. 3200 
would exempt Medigap policies from new limits on preexisting condition 
restrictions, thus allowing AARP to continue to deny Medigap 
individuals with serious health conditions.
  The health reform bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee would 
eliminate the tax deductibility for all insurance company executive 
salaries over $500,000. However, as drafted by the committee, the 
legislation would exempt AARP from this requirement, even though fully 
38 percent of its $1.1 billion in 2008 revenue came directly from 
royalty fees paid by United Health Care--more than AARP received in 
membership dues, grant revenue, and private contributions combined.
  But for Chairman Baucus' exemption, AARP salaries would in fact be 
subject to the penalties in the Finance bill. In 2008, then CEO William 
Novelli received total compensation of $1,005,830, more than 78 times 
the average annual Social Security benefit of $12,738.
  According to a story published today in the Washington Post, AARP 
collected $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the 
sale of insurance policies, credit cards, and other products that carry 
the AARP name. One of the main products that AARP pushes are so-called 
Medigap insurance policies for senior citizens. These policies 
supplement existing Medicare policies that seniors already have.
  So what's the big deal? Well, in case you missed it, AARP is helping 
push the Democrats' big government version of health care reform. 
They've been a vocal proponent of the government-run health care 
proposal before Congress. Interestingly, the proposal before Congress 
slashed funding for a Medicare program called Medicare Advantage. This 
program is especially popular with seniors in my district. About 40,000 
seniors in my district enjoy the benefits of a Medicare Advantage plan, 
but these plans will be killed off under the Democrats' government 
takeover of health care, and AARP has been pushing this brand of health 
care reform.
  AARP has the right to offer services to its members, but pushing for 
a version of health care reform that will hurt millions of seniors who 
have Medicare Advantage plans and that will almost certainly increase 
shares of AARP's Medigap policies is a very dangerous conflict of 
interest.
  AARP has hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance revenue on the 
line in today's health care debate. I think America's seniors deserve 
to know the facts about how health care reform will affect them, and it 
appears that AARP may have a few too many dogs in this race to be an 
impartial source of information.

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