AARP pits boomers against seniors

[baby_bear]

AARP Support for Medicare Bill Came as Group Grew 'Younger'

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/politics/26AARP.html?hp

<snip>
William D. Novelli, the chief executive of AARP, sat in his downtown Washington office on Tuesday, still glowing from the Senate's passage of prescription-drug legislation that his group had endorsed, and slid a copy of the glossy AARP magazine across a mahogany table. The actress Lauren Hutton was on the cover, along with blurbs for stories about "where to find love" and "amazing new sex drugs."

The message was clear. "Boomers," Mr. Novelli declared, "are the future of the AARP."

...
Marilyn Moon, a former director of public policy for AARP, said it had also become politically bolder. "They want to be players in the political arena," she said. "They want to be considered partners with people in Congress," which, she said, means "working with Republicans."

That is bad news for Democrats, who have long counted on the elderly as a reliable voting constituency. Among those most angered by the endorsement was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who has long worked with AARP on health care issues, but broke with it over the bill. "I think they didn't speak for their constituency on this one," Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Novelli was not worried; he said his next job was to repair relations with Democrats. He planned "a blow-out party" at AARP headquarters after Thanksgiving, to let the group's 1,200 Washington employees celebrate the bill's passage. As he spoke, he stumbled upon an idea.

"You know," he said, "I'm going to invite Senator Kennedy to the party. He may not come. But maybe he'll come, and have a beer with us."

</snip>

This guy is totally out of touch with reality. He's obviously been hanging out with Republicans too much.

I will never, ever join AARP and I will do what I can - from Washington state - to oust Daschle as minority leader, and to elect better Democrats than turncoats Ron Wyden and Dianne Feinstein.

s_m

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Speaking of Turncoat Feinstein, I hope that the Green...

wins in San Fransico next month. We need to send a message to the RepubliCrats that we ARE NOT going to take this shit anymore!

[Malva Zebrina]

2. there is something terribly wrong

with this country--and I do not only mean the Bush fascist regime. There is an attitude and I have no analysis from whence it comes and how it comes--There is a sick nervousness--a relentless striving--striving to buy, to spend, to eat too much, to have a successful career no matter what you have to give up of your ethics or what you have to do to your fellow man, live in a gated community, use private schools for the kids, drive big cars--all so shallow--a loss of soul--America has lost it's collective soul--it is a shallow place plagued with the little capitalist, corporate robots it has created all scurrying to compete relentlessly day and night-- and keeps creating via methods enjoined to enter the brain and consciousness of human beings without them being aware. Americans are, indeed shallow individuals.

The picture of Lauren Hutton on the cover is indeed an obscene piece of public relations propaganda and glitz. Not only does it advertise that being "thirty" at sixty is more desirable but it implies that indeed , all sixty year old seniors can look (and be) thirty--so there is a picture of the aging Hutton, looking thirty --not a wrinkle, not a sign of an unhealthy disease, not anything visible on her smooth and unblemished face that attests to her accumulated slings and arrows and her ability to cope with it all, or accumiulated wisdom that comes with advancing in age. She is a robot--and seniors who view that picture as one of their achievable goals are hooked--shallow, strivers who have lost their soul.

[Fovea]

18. You might read

Fredrick Morton's "A Nervous Splendor" about Fin de Ciecle Vienna.
I see more and more similarity.

[Chef]

3. Boomers

Talk about perfect timing. Yesterdays mail brought me my AArp card. All I had to do was send $12.50 to activate it. I took out my handy Sharpie and wrote across it "Novelli & Bush: Take this and shove it up your ass". I know no one will see it or care, but it was a small opportunity to strike out at this insane bill. Both of my senators voted no on the bill.

[Warpy]

5. Coward

I did the same thing and sent mine in.

[Chef]

8. Boomers

Im sorry my not saying that I sent it back caused you to express yourself to me that way. I sent it. I can also see why my saying no one will ever see it would lead you to think I did not take the time to send it. That would have really been pointless. I doubt if anyone at AARP would pay attention if there wasn't a check in the envelope. I know you don't know me outside of what is posted here, but I don't appreciate being called a coward. Having said this, I feel better.

[dflprincess]

15. This boomer

is not joining AARP. I've been getting mailings from them since I turned 50 last June and was thinking about signing up. No more. The mailing I get, I will return in the postage paid envelope letting them know why.

[baby_bear]

6. I hope you sent it back

That's an important message that you wrote on that damn card!!

s_m

[Chef]

9. Boomers

I did.

[Fixated]

4. ....

I wrote about this on my blog: is the AARP really making a good move? In the past they have alienated Republicans by sticking solidly with the Dems, and now they have angered the Dems with the Medicare bill. While they may think they're shifting focus, they may end up in political limbo, with no strong positions or backers.

[realFedUp]

7. Certainly's a good reason not to buy what they're selling

AARP is afterall a business.

[Snellius]

10. Novelli says he doesn't want "just a bunch of old people"

There's a great post on the AARP board today:

I just finished reading an article in the online version of the NY Times this morning that I thought was very revealing. It concerns Novelli's thoughts behind AARP's recent change in ideology/strategy. The gist of the article said that Novelli and certain other members on the AARP Board wanted to appeal to the millions of younger baby boomers who are now in their late 40s and 50s and draw them into into their AARP membership. The article said that Novelli "didn't want them to think that we support just a bunch of old people". WOW!!! Now ain't that the truth! -- "JUST A BUNCH OF OLD PEOPLE". That's all we are to this group of marketing thugs. He said that his research indicates that this "younger group" is more receptive to this privatization of the Medicare model. Boy, is he in for a surprise!

Well, Mr. Novelli, I'm one of those baby boomers you spoke of and, frankly, AARP, due principally to likes of people like you, will NEVER lure me into your marketing lair.

My hope is that, when all is said and done and people see how devastating this new Medicare plan of yours is, that these "old people" and the younger, smarter, hipper baby boomers will have long since realized the truth and deserted your marketing-hyped AARP gismo, leaving you to sell snake oil on the street corners.

I urge all of you to find a true and authentic organization that legitimately represents the interests and concerns of the elderly. Drop AARP. To them, you're just "a bunch of old people."

Mike from Mass.

http://community.aarp.org/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=rp-health&msg=2860.1&ctx=0

[Lisa]

11. "just a bunch of old people"

oh, and now the organization that's supposed to help protect their interests is going to roll over for a bunch of boomers who are waiting like vultures for their parents to kick off and leave them legacies?

Okay, I know that there are plenty of 50-somethings who are appalled by such a sellout move. I am in my mid-30s .... my parents are in their late 70s. Like others who knew the Depression firsthand, they are VERY careful with their money, and are progressive on social issues because they remember what life was like before medicare, goverment pension plans, etc. I count myself darned lucky to be able to learn from their considerable experience.

The thought that the AARP, of all people, would dump their cohort and rush off to prostrate itself in front of whatever demographic bulge strikes its fancy ...

"old people" -- just wait until my parents hear this one.

[J. Hill]

12. What about Boomers?

It's easy to see how AARP could believe Boomers are its future but the article never made a good case for Boomers being the reason for AARP's support for the Medicare bill.

Frankly, I'm not sure there's much to worry about if the article is trying to say the AARP is becoming more conservative because it's courting Boomers and Boomers are more conservative than their parents. Very few Boomers are retired so they don't know what it's like to face the medical difficulties associated with age without decent health insurance. As that becomes clear, I think they'll start to become more like today's seniors.

[baby_bear]

13. You're right, the article didn't make the case

I think that's part of an interesting point: AARP is saying that they are acting in the interest of their younger, i.e., boomer members, but in fact there is no evidence that this bill helps boomers or anyone else except for drug companies and HMOs. I think the only evidence is that very young people don't seem to be averse to the idea of privatizing Medicare and Social Security, but so what? They don't vote in large numbers, and is there any indication they understand the economic issues at stake better than boomers or current seniors? I don't think so.

It's just an AARP smokescreen to explain how they sold out their membership.

s_m

[Desperadoe]

14. Not just out of touch

Novelli is also pretty stupid.

Hasn't this man or the idiots in Washington figured out that the "Boomers" all have parents? The "old people" who they no longer care about are the parents that the Boomers will have to take care of when Medicare goes bust or the prescription drug costs escalate beyond their ability to pay. Who do they think these old people will have to turn to?

I am 57 and my parents have passed on now but if they were still living and in need of meds or medical care, and had no means to obtain it, I would surely have to provide for them. Do these crass, obnoxious idiots think that the Boomers will just let their parents rot and die?

Most Boomers have a mom and dad and most of them care deeply for them. I can't imagine that they will not be outraged when they witness the foul treatment in store for two people that they love and care about.

If they haven't learned anything else from their parents lives they surely will learn to identify what's in store them come retirement.

[spooky3]

16. And...who is going to pay for this new bill?

$400B will be borrowed to pay for this corporate welfare program to the pharmaceuticals, HMOs, etc.

Does he think the boomers:

have forgotten that 'there is no free lunch"?
enjoy paying high interest rates because of excessive govt. borrowing for expenses? (remember, they have expected life spans of 30+ years)
care nothing about their children, who will inherit the unpaid bills?

Yes, I know there are some stupid and/or uninformed and/or apathetic people out there, but I hate to think that the Repugs' strategy of capitalizing on those tendencies will be rewarded and that there are more of such people than I realized.

[SharonAnn]

17. I'm in the first of the Boomers and I'm pissed! It's too late for us

to do any significant "saving" since we have few years left before forced retirement and our companies have cut and will continue cutting all of the retiree benefits that they can. So we need Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage and we will have it!

We are a "huge" voting block and if we think we're being ripped off there will be hell to pay. We expect benefits at least equal to what we received in the workplace (thanks to the benefits that unions won for all of us), not less. So, bankrupting Medicare, Prescription Drug Plans with "Donut Holes", and forcing us into limited HMO's isn't going to cut it. Sorry, we're just not that stupid.

And they say we'll be passing the debt on to our children. There's money available and we don't have to do without. There's no reason, for example, that capital gains and dividends should be taxed less than Earned Income, income that one has to actually WORK to obtain.

Novelli isn't a Boomer and he's just as clueless about us as other older generations have been. I don't know what it is about those who came before us but they just don't "get us". We've paid more into Social Security and Medicare than any other group AND we've put extra into Social Security to cover ourselves (the first generation to do so). There will be hell to pay and if Novelli thinks he's going to manipulate us, he's nuts! We're a steam roller and since I'm the "bleeding edge" of the group, I usually figure out what's happening way before anyone else does. So, trust me, we won't be lying down and letting them roll over us! No way!

[baby_bear]

19. Right on, SharonAnn

I have been thinking along the same lines but you said it perfectly. If Novelli et al.think this is all about current AARP-ers, they really are missing the boat, because HERE WE COME.

Now...let's just keep that momentum you speak of together, big time!

:toast:

s_m

[teryang]

20. Well said, Boomers have fought and paid for

...stupid irresponsible wars, watched their banks and savings and loans robbed blind and replenished the monies, been regressively taxed, lost their careers, had their pensions and IRAs looted and now this! Anyone who thinks we don't know what's wrong with privately run HMOs and insurance plans is living in lala land. The older you get the smarter you get. The older you get the less likely it is that you'll see things the repuke way.

The truth is that executives will say anything to justify corruption and greed. Boomers are way beyond the yuppie stage.

[DPG]

21. Also angry at the Local AARP in Iowa City, IA

The local AARP in Iowa City, IA is throwing a Gala Holiday Celebration on Monday, Dec. 1st, -- just as though nothing has happened at the national level. They even went the extra mile in their press release that was printed today by including an invitation to people under 50 to join their celebration -- just like the national has said they are planning to do.

The local AARP has a rent free office in the city owned Senior Center. Our senior center is doing the same thing, catering to the younger people. They are planning to change the name of the senior center soon to remove the word "Senior" which they feel hurts their fund raising.

So the local AARP is standing right in line with the management of the senior center who recently started using the name "The Center" in advance of a requirement to form a committee to study the name change.

What's worse is the seniors are mostly quietly accepting what is happening. Its very angering.