News & Blogs

Thomas Catenacci: ‘AARP Works Against Its Members’: AARP Overcharges Members While Reporting Billion-Dollar Revenues, Report Says

  Although AARP is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, it has been consistently racking in large profits. AARP’s 4.95% fee that it charges members who enroll in Medigap policies has resulted in a House investigation and lawsuits. The Affordable Care Act awarded Medigap policies a series of favorable exemptions from key provisions in the bill. AARP finances its operations by overcharging members for health care policies and through its billion-dollar relationship with UnitedHealth Group, according to…

Patrick Brenner: Crony Capitalism Is Alive and Well During COVID-19

Congress is in recess until after Labor Day. As a result, people across the nation are furious with their elected representatives for leaving Washington without passing another COVID-19 economic relief package. The implications for extra unemployment insurance that keeps people out of the workforce and stimulus checks that increase our national debt notwithstanding, there’s another silver lining: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s crony capitalist giveaway to health insurance giants is at least a few…

Nathan Williamson: Could Trump Executive Order Eliminate AARP’s Sweetheart Deal?

While President Donald Trump admits his announced executive order on pre-existing conditions amounts to “signaling,” behind the scenes, some conservatives are urging the administration to explore the possibility of going one step further by eliminating a crony Obama-era giveaway to AARP. For context, look to the unholy alliance between AARP and the insurance giant UnitedHealthGroup. Its mission has apparently been to rake in profits on the backs of the American seniors it claims to “serve.” In…

Chris Jacobs: How AARP Puts Profits over Patients—And Principles

Unfortunately, the old saying about looks being deceiving applies to some interest groups in Washington, chief among them AARP. That organization, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, attempts to call itself a consumer advocacy group and continues to play a high-power role in major health policy debates based on the perception that it represents seniors. But in reality, AARP functions as a marketing and lobbying arm of its for-profit partners—and frequently behaves in ways…

Infographic: How AARP Puts Profits over Patients

2020 Study: AARP Put Profits Over Patients – And Principles

Read the in depth report by Chris Jacobs, that dives into how AARP has abandoned its core constituency and has instead, put its financial partner, UnitedHealth, and bottom line above all… “Some Americans might think of AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, as a membership and advocacy organization. However, the reality has proven far different…” Read the full report here.

Media Release: American Commitment Highlights AARP’s Misguided Advocacy & Corporate Financial Relationships in New Study

Washington, D.C.—American Commitment is launching a major new educational, grassroots, and multimedia initiative to educate policymakers and the public regarding AARP’s financial relationships with large for-profit corporations such as UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurance company.  The CommitmentToSeniors.org initiative is being launched featuring a new original research paper exploring AARP’s systemic financial ties to UnitedHealth, frequently updated content as health care policy debates impacting seniors intensify in Congress and numerous state legislatures, and activist tools…

Commitment to Seniors Exposes AARP at CPAC

Commitment to Seniors’ president Phil Kerpen spoke at the virtual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and exposed AARP for who they really are—a front group for UnitedHealth and Democrats. During the “Conversation with Matt Schlapp and special guests Phil Kerpen, Michi Iljazi, and Morgan Zegers,” Kerpen detailed, through its financial arrangement with UnitedHealth, that AARP was betraying its primary constituency—seniors. Kerpen stated, “AARP basically functions as a marketing arm of UnitedHealth Group. And that’s because they…