Here's a clue: AARP (the American Association of Retired
Persons) does not sell Medicare Advantage. But it makes a vast amount of
money selling Medigap coverage. AARP has had no higher political priority
than to curb the Medicare Advantage program and replace it with Medigap
insurance. The profit margins on Medigap are greater, and AARP has every
intention of exploiting them with Obama's help. His price? AARP backing for
his program.
The American Seniors Association (ASA), an alternative to AARP
that represents hundreds of thousands of elderly, says, "It is outrageous
that Medicare Advantage, a private program with premium assistance for
seniors ... has come under attack." Stuart Barton, ASA president, notes that
under Medicare Advantage, private healthcare companies "compete to provide
care based on a negotiated price."
Obama's deal with AARP represents special interest politics at
its worst. He has already negotiated a deal with the big drug companies to
get their support for his bill (and their advertising bucks to promote it)
in return for guaranteeing that the cuts in their prices and profits will be
small. And, by cutting Medicare Advantage, he signed up the AARP too.
Obama plans to slash the premium subsidies to low income elderly
for Medicare Advantage coverage. This would drive up the premiums and drive
many poor seniors into Medigap coverage. And then, most cynically, he would
take the money he saves on shortchanging poor old people and use it to
subsidize the policies of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s who are, by
definition, not poor (and thus not eligible for Medicaid).
And all this from a liberal? A Democrat?