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Conservative seniors accuse AARP of betrayal

After being criticized for supporting a bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives which proposed expanding the S-CHIP children's health coverage, raising taxes, and cutting Medicare programs, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) now has a new charge leveled against them by conservatives concerning that bill.



The American Seniors Association (ASA), a conservative grassroots advocacy group, is claiming that the AARP was warned at least a week before the House vote that the bill would gut $150 to $200 million from Medicare Advantage and other Medicare programs -- but still chose to lobby legislators for its passage. ASA cites a letter from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to AARP's CEO William Novelli in which the congressman issued the warning.

ASA founder Jerry Barton says an August 12 New York Times article exposed the fact that the measure was also full of money for earmark projects proposed by mostly Democratic House members. Barton says it contained "several earmarks ... for specialty hospitals, and for others in the healthcare industry. Consequently, the [American Medical Association] is for this legislation," he adds. And in a press release, Barton states "it is clear that Democrats in Congress plan to finance government-run universal healthcare on the backs of America's seniors."

He offers similar criticism of the AARP. Barton says the bill's earmarks -- and the fact that AARP leaders knew the harm it would bring to seniors -- indicate the group will support liberal agendas and any steps toward universal healthcare at the expense of their own clientele.