Contact: Michael DeSantis
MANCHESTER, NH/WASHINGTON, DC – January 22, 2024 – More than 10,000 New Hampshire seniors have signed the EndTheRaid.org petition urging AARP to leverage its advocacy and litigation resources to mount a legal challenge to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
It is estimated that the IRA spending bill is diverting approximately $280 billion in projected Medicare drug savings to pay for unrelated spending and special interest handouts, including costly tax credits for electric vehicles and large subsidies benefiting big health insurers. Just as alarming to many, these unrelated subsidies were made available immediately while most of the IRA’s Medicare drug provisions aimed at lowering seniors’ costs were scheduled for later implementation.
AARP, which has been paid billions of dollars via UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurer-PBM corporation, originally endorsed the law, echoing supporters’ claims that it would reduce inflation, lower consumer costs, and decrease the price of prescription medicines. Recent national polling of likely voters, however, shows that nearly 80 percent of older Americans 55 plus view the IRA as a failure.
The petition states that the billions in redirected funds can and should be returned to Medicare to help ensure the financial well-being of the program and to support the millions of older Americans who rely on it.
“This is an opportunity for AARP to show whether it advocates for older Americans or for its corporate partners,” said Phil Kerpen, President of American Commitment. “Today, most Americans can easily obtain electric vehicles tax credits or subsidies to pay big insurers paid for with funds raided from Medicare in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act – but the alleged savings at the pharmacy counter are nowhere to be seen.”
Polling also indicated that more than 90 percent of seniors believe the IRA’s Medicare drug “savings” should first be applied toward reducing Medicare beneficiaries’ drug costs instead of diverting funds toward unrelated spending.
“Why would AARP support diverting billions away from Medicare for unrelated spending in the first place? And second, why would they be okay with using those funds to make special interest handouts before most seniors see any benefit?” continued Kerpen.
The End the Raid on Medicare Petition can be viewed at EndTheRaid.org. As part of this effort to educate seniors, Commitment to Seniors is deploying mobile billboards, full page print ads, and online advertising across New Hampshire.
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Commitment to Seniors is a project of American Commitment. American Commitment is dedicated to restoring and protecting our nation’s commitment to free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom. American Commitment engages in critical public policy fights over the size and intrusiveness of government through direct advocacy, strategic policy analysis, and grassroots mobilization. www.AmericanCommitment.org and www.CommitmentToSeniors.org