Move On says AARP selling out medicare

Re: Sounds good.


Vancouver is indeed a great place to live.

I don't want to live in Canada, however, I don't want to die in the USA because my health "insurance" doesn't cover this or that...

British Columbia might be experiencing a rise in population soon...

Voting is completed: 54 aye, 44 nay.

A sad day for youthful wallets.

The republicans feel this will enhance their standing with the elderly. I predict when the full impact of the bill upon the greater majority of seniors is understood. The taste of victory will become ash. Not only will the bulk of seniors find that there prescription cost will increase. The cost of traditional Medicare which is preferred by the overwhelming majority will increase to a point that will and force them into HMO's. The question is however, because it's implementation is down the road the impact will not be felt until well after the next election and possibly not understood. The democrats should do the mathematics and get the message out. The republicans were against Medicare at it's inception and as is evident still are. .

The Repubs just past a money pit that has to borrow money to support it. Where does that money come from? Young people, who don't vote will be paying trillions of dollars for this over the next twenty years, the younger generation just paid a tremendous sum for Repub votes from the older generation. I guess that what they were after, votes, but still, where was the outcry for a Medicare drug benefit? Granted more of the older generation vote, but I still don't see that this was a big vote getter being that only 4.2% of Medicare beneficiaries had drug acquiring issues.

This plan is a sorry deal for both age groups.

BrandX
But a great deal for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The legislations main purpose is touted as a prescription benifit progrm for the elderly when in reality it is a bill to privatize Medicare.

Au -- I'm listening to a long interview (a great one!) with John Edwards at the moment and he'd agree with you 100%. He believes that when this **** hits the fan, there's going to be trouble.

And for our constitutional form of government.

Medicare Reform: The Real Winners

Nov. 20, 2003

If the measure of a good compromise is the number of different parties it disappoints, then the new bill on Medicare reform would seem to be a smashing success.

[]

(The New Republic) Story: This commentary from The New Republic was written by Jonathan Cohn.

If the measure of a good compromise is the number of different parties it disappoints, then the new bill on Medicare reform would seem to be a smashing success. The AFL-CIO and Ted Kennedy hate it, but so do anti-government Republicans in the House and a gaggle of policy wonks at the Heritage Foundation. Even the bill's supporters -- most important among them, the American Association of Retired People (AARP) -- admit it's seriously flawed. And that's just the way the architects of the compromise say they want things. As Louisiana Senator John Breaux, one of two Democrats who participated in the final negotiations, put it, "No one got everything they wanted."
I strongly suggest you read the entire article.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/20/opinion/main584722.shtml

I guess the AARP and all those old folks don't know what is good for them as well as do all those Democrat policy wonks and election strategists.

The Democrat party is in the grip of its many discordant single issue interest groups. They have no vision or integrated political platform, apart from their anger and hostility towards Republicans. The noise and rhetoric of their narrow minded constituencies has drowned out the voices of the people generally. They are enchanted with these inward looking loyalists and oblivious to the larger political trends swirling around them. They will choose Gov. Dean (governor of a state smaller than many counties in the country) and will lose big time next year.

Uh oh -- I'm beginning to pick up on desperate defensiveness here...

"will lose big time next year."
The American people is who will lose big time next year.

Amerika is now a Plutocracy sliding into a Police State.

I'm the one willing to put some money on the outcome.

I'm a Democrat, George. I've already done my giving for this year!

Tartarin,

Good thinking. None of the dwarves is worth a bet anyway.

Who said you can't fool all of the people all of the time. George hasn't fooled all of the people but enough to get him reelected. Madison avenue for years has with enough advertising proven that you can sell the American people anything including defective products. George is a prime example.

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MILT FREUDENHEIM

Published: November 26, 2003

[] WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — 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."


The AARP are no longer advocates for the elderly. They are now chasing the almighty dollar.They should change the name of the organization to the American Association Of Baby Boomers AABB

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N339.nytimes.com/B922384;sz=720x300;ord=2003.11.26.14.12.40?

There are alternatives, Au, aren't there? I figure quite a few people will switch.

Tartarin
I do not believe there are alternatives. The AARP built it's organization on the backs of the seniors, a group it has now abandoned. Moving on to greener pastures. It started out with the best of intentions. However, as we all know that is what the road to hell is paved with.

Kind of interesting to wait and see whether there will be a backlash...