Older Americans find themselves in dire need of champions in Washington and state capitals like never before. That’s because it has become increasingly clear that the AARP, once a trusted advocate, no longer truly represents our best interests. A glaring instance of AARP’s misplaced priorities is its relentless push for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed into law by Congress last year.
With slick advertising and promotional campaigns, AARP touted the IRA as a solution to help reduce seniors’ Medicare prescription drug costs. By their own admission, they spent over $60 million dollars to help pass the bill. A worthy goal, no doubt, but the IRA has proven to be much different than what its supporters, including AARP, presented it as when rushing to pass it.
For example, most seniors likely don’t know that one of the bill’s key features was the immediate reallocation of $280 billion in projected Medicare drug “savings” to bankroll unrelated government spending programs. To make matters worse, the drug pricing provisions AARP and others bragged about were largely delayed two to four years while $7,500 electric vehicle tax credits and big insurer subsidies funded by the Medicare drug savings were immediately implemented.