News & Blogs

Jon Decker: For Real Healthcare Reform, Biden Should Break Up with Big Insurance

The enthusiastically socialist Jacobin magazine recently took President Biden to task for a healthcare plan that superficially appeared “lifted” from insurance industry lobbyists. Of course, cribbing material is nothing new for Joe Biden—and neither is going to bat for Big Insurance at the expense of Americans. Jacobin reports, “Biden’s plan would shovel billions of dollars to private health insurers by providing subsidies for Americans to buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces… Those initiatives — which could further boost insurers’ skyrocketing profits — were…

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Jon Decker: AARP’s Stance on Prescription Price Controls Hurts Older Americans

After the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently unveiled its finalized proposal to lower prescription drug costs by passing on rebate discounts directly to Medicare patients, seniors would rightly expect the AARP to be supportive. After all, the organization is supposed to represent seniors and their interests. According to the HHS, under the current rebate system: “Drug companies pay rebates and other payments to PBMs [pharmacy benefits managers], but these payments are…

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Is AARP the Organization It Claims to Be?

During the 2020 election, AARP staff repeatedly claimed that their organization “maintains a nonpartisan stance” and “is a powerful voice for the issues and concerns of the 50 plus.” It’s true that the AARP doesn’t make political contributions or endorse candidates, as doing so would jeopardize its “non-profit” status. However, the claim that the organization is focused on issues that benefit its members is laughably wrong. Instead, the driving factor behind the political fights that…

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Why Does AARP Oppose Prescription Drug Rebate Policy that Benefits Seniors?

After the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently unveiled its finalized proposal to lower prescription drug costs by passing on rebate discounts directly to Medicare patients, seniors would rightly expect the AARP to be supportive. After all, the organization is supposed to represent seniors and their interests. But that’s not what happened. Instead, it took AARP mere hours to publicly criticize the proposal, saying in part that, “AARP supports solutions that will lower drug…

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Foreign Price Controls Will Hurt Seniors

Washington politicians and bureaucrats on both sides of the aisle have recently proposed misguided policies that would impose foreign price controls on medicines in the U.S. These proposals would arbitrarily fix the cost of medications that American seniors rely on to prices set by bureaucrats in other countries with socialized health care systems. Throughout history and around the world, price controls have consistently had disastrous consequences. Especially for seniors, price controls will reduce access to…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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