WHEREAS:
AARP, formerly know as the American Federation of Retired Persons, is an organization of over 22 million dues-paying members over the age of 50 and their spouses. AARP claims to represent their members' interests before the U.S. Congress; and
WHEREAS:
AARP was originally organized in conjunction with Colonial Penn Insurance Company as a vehicle for older people to buy health insurance before the creation of Medicare but, in more recent years, broke ties to Colonial Penn under pressure from Congress and expanded its offerings of AARP-sponsored insurance and other consumer products provided by a variety of vendors; and
WHEREAS:
AARP has always claimed that its health insurance products and the millions it receives in royalties from insurance companies have no influence on the positions it takes on legislation that affects its older constituency. In fact, AARP did not endorse the creation of Medicare in 1965, largely due to the influence of Colonial Penn and its fear of losing the senior citizen insurance market; and
WHEREAS:
AARP has long advocated the addition of a prescription drug benefit in Medicare, but raised many concerns about Republican-sponsored legislation moving through Congress in the summer of 2003, citing big gaps in its drug coverage, a lack of cost-containment on drug prices, weak subsidies for employers who provide retiree coverage and the inclusion of measures leading to the privatization of the entire Medicare program, among other seniors' concerns. At the same time, it mounted a major public relations effort to get seniors to pressure Congress to "fix it and pass it;" and
WHEREAS:
AARP appears to have developed a close working relationship with the White House and Congressional GOP leaders, promising to help them promote their legislation to seniors by lending it AARP's seal of approval; and
WHEREAS:
AARP endorsed the final legislation in November 2003 and spent millions on an advertising campaign, even though the bill included many of the negative elements earlier cited by AARP as unacceptable and despite the bill's condemnation by nearly every senior, disability, consumer and labor organization in the country; and
WHEREAS:
AARP says it endorsed the bill, which was signed by President Bush late last year, because something is better than nothing, but a series of media reports questioned the close longtime ties of AARP CEO Bill Novelli to Newt Gingrich and other prominent conservative Republicans and noted that AARP stood to gain over a billion in increased royalties from its insurance products; and
WHEREAS:
AARP says its own polls show that most of its members disapprove of its support for the new Medicare law, that it has lost over 60,000 members as a result, and has been inundated with angry calls, e-mails and letters; and
WHEREAS:
AARP members have decried the lack of democracy in AARP that led to the organization's endorsement of the new law, including a self-selected 21-member board that has no other AARP constituency, the board's authority to elect AARP's president with no input from the members or local chapters, and no convention of elected delegates to set general AARP policy.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME denounces AARP's endorsement of the new Medicare law, which offers skimpy drug benefits to seniors while undermining the overall Medicare program; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME encourages our members who are also members of AARP to aggressively advocate for greater democracy within AARP that could lead to a more representative leadership, policies that better reflect members' needs and fewer conflicts of interest resulting from AARP's reliance on product royalties.
SUBMITTED BY:
International Executive Board