From CBS News:
CBS News has learned that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July 1, angered over the group’s position on health care.
Elaine Guardiani has been with AARP for 14 years, and said, “I’m extremely disappointed in AARP.”
Retired nurse Dale Anderson has 12 years with AARP and said, “I don’t wanna be connected with AARP.”
Many are switching to the American Seniors Association, a group that calls itself the conservative alternative as CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.
Last week alone, they added more than 5,000 new members. Our camera was there Friday when the mail came.
The principle issue driving seniors away from the AARP appears to be the proposed cuts to Medicare and the Medicare Advantage program. The American Seniors Association pulls no punches in its opposition to ObamaCare and the cuts to Medicare and the Medicare Advantage program. The AARP on the hand insists they haven’t endorsed any plan but as the CBS News report notes AARP’s VP for Social Impact, Cheryl Matheis, can’t find anything to quibble with, including the cuts to Medicare and the Medicare Advantage program, saying:
“We haven’t seen provisions in legislation yet, so we’re going to reserve judgment until we see them,” said Matheis.
Heh… You don’t need to see the final bill, as Ms. Matheis suggests, to know it’s a bad deal for seniors.
The ASA is a bit of an unknown, but any reduction in the influence of the AARP is good thing. They’ve effectively become and extension of the federal bureaucracy and are just as out of touch with the people they claim represent as the President and members of Congress.
If there’s one thing that the health care reform debate has made crystal clear, it’s that many seniors believe that the quality of care they’ll receive under ObamaCare will decline. The AARP foolishly thought they could slip that past they’re and now they’re paying a price for their arrogance.