News & Blogs

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…

Gil Ziffer: AARP should protect its senior members, not UnitedHealth’s profits

An arrangement between AARP and the UnitedHealth Group medical insurance company has made billions of dollars for both entities. But as a pandemic rages out of control — a pandemic that most profoundly affects the elderly — it’s time to ask whether those profits come at the expense of AARP’s vulnerable membership. The American Association of Retired Persons, or AARP, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over, dedicated to “enhancing…

The AARP-UnitedHealth-Congress Love Triangle

The health insurance industry has longed enjoyed a cozy relationship with congressional Democrats, but the level of back scratching going on between them – with AARP in the middle – has reached new heights. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurance corporation, has been raking in record earnings while Americans continue to endure an unprecedented amount of pain and suffering. Now, Nancy Pelosi wants to reward them with a massive cash infusion: Congressional Democrats’ plan would only add to insurers’…

AARP Aims to Profit from the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit many industries especially hard – and the news media is no exception. Thousands of reporters have been laid off, furloughed, or had their salaries cut and dozens of publications have closed for good. Despite the economic difficulties threatening their very existence, media outlets and news organizations across the country dropped their paywalls and made coronavirus coverage available for free to non-subscribers. Explaining the move to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The…