AARP Is Welcoming the Privatization of Medicare
Many of AARP’s members count on Medicare to survive. Yet the group is boosting Medicare’s privatization — perhaps because it has already raked in nearly a billion dollars from its involvement in that privatization.
AARP is benefitting from the privatization of Medicare and the denial of care to seniors. (Sarah L. Voisin / the Washington Post via Getty Images)
Despite massive and systemic problems with for-profit Medicare plans denying care to seniors while costing the government more than $7 billion annually in excess fees, the leading advocacy group tasked with protecting older Americans is welcoming the privatization of the national health insurance program — while earning as much as $814 million annually from insurers advertising the plans.
The state of affairs lays bare a conflict inside AARP, the major advocacy organization for Americans fifty and older, over how to approach the regulation of Medicare Advantage, the for-profit version of Medicare.
On one hand, AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, collects enormous amounts of revenue from Medicare Advantage insurers to supplement huge executive salaries (the nonprofit’s CEO made $1.3 million in 2020). On the other hand, the organization is expected to advocate for the best interests of their 38 million members — and the 28.4 million Americans now covered by Medicare Advantage plans, or nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries.
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