Dakota Beacon

If you want to drill for oil, you hire a petroleum engineer. If you want to drill for money in Washington, you hire a lobbyist. That’s what farm lobbies, industry associations and teachers unions do. Lobbyist facilitate taking tax dollars from some people and giving those dollars to others.

Formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP is no different than any other special interest group in its activities.

Although AARP bills itself as non-partisan. Nevertheless, its actions prove otherwise. They have funded advertising and pushed for legislation that consistently argues for a Democrat legislative agenda embracing higher taxes and bigger government.

On Tuesday afternoon, July 28, President Obama participated in a “tele-town hall” meeting at the AARP headquarters in Washington, DC.

The question is, “How well does AARP represent members’ interests?”

Seniors remain skittish about the vote in congress on health care bill H.R. 3200 . Skepticism remains high for several reasons.

Nevertheless, AARP continues active campaigning in favor of “Obamacare” by urging members to lobby their congressmen and senators to support the measure despite the bill’s major flaws.

FLAW 1: Under Obamacare, seniors indeed risk losing their doctor. Administration rhetoric to the contrary, the New York Times on April 2, 2009, reported that 29% of Medicare beneficiaries surveyed who were looking for a primary care doctor had trouble finding one. That’s up 5% from last year. Our nation already faces a significant and growing doctor shortage. Obamacare will compound the problem making it more difficult for seniors to find doctors who accept Medicare.

To exacerbate the problem further, Obama plans to pay for up to a third of his plan by cutting $313 billion in Medicare reimbursements to health care providers thus forcing doctors to see even fewer Medicare patients.

Adding to the pressure, Obamacare’s “public option” could decrease the annual income of hospitals by $36 billion causing the net income of physicians to drop by $33 billion. Such reductions will encourage doctors to retire early and medical students to seek other fields of endeavor.

FLAW 2: Under Obamacare many seniors will lose their coverage. At least 22% of all Medicare patients (10.5 million people) are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. In addition to the traditional Medicare benefits, these plans include coordinated care for patients with chronic conditions together with additional hospitalization coverage. President Obama proposes to kill the entire program. If so, seniors could easily face an average $2,000-$4,000 annual cost adjustment increase.

FLAW 3: Under Obamacare, health care will be rationed. Central to Obamacare is a federal health board that will, of necessity, ration health care to cut costs. Supporting Obamacare, Princeton professor Peter Singer wrote in the New York Times, “The task of health care bureaucrats is then to get the best value for the resources they have been allocated.” Congressional conservatives have given every opportunity for Obamacare liberals to disavow government-rationed health care with amendments to remove rationing provisions. Those amendments have been voted down in every instance along partisan lines. Obama plans to pay for expanded coverage for the young and healthy at the expense of the elderly and infirm.

In spite of these profound flaws, AARP continues to support and advocate for Obamacare regardless of members who see things differently from AARP leaders. Which begs the question, “Whose interest does AARP serve -- the elderly or ideologues?”

There is no question that America’s health care system needs improvement. Rather than balancing health care reform on the backs of seniors, more must be done to revise the tax system, implement tort reform, enable true health care competition in the private sector and give families control of their health care dollars.

Obamacare does none of this.