60 Plus Association: Americans against AARP

AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

The outcome of the health care reform battle is of vital concern to senior citizens in South Florida and throughout the nation. At an AARP forum earlier this month in Dallas, passions became so heated that organizers were forced to cancel the session-- mid-meeting! Breitbart TV has the video.

While senior citizens seek answers as to how health care reform would truly affect them, at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H, President Obama curiously misstated AARP's position on health care reform.

"We have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors." He added, "AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare."-- President Obama

The President's confusion over AARP's support for his health care legislation caused AARP to respond with the following statement:

“Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate.” Tom Nelson, AARP chief operating officer

Last week, Miami City Buzz Examiner discussed reports of how senior citizens were canceling their AARP memberships specifically due to dissatisfaction with the organization's perceived endorsement for health care legislation which members, themselves, do not support. Nonetheless, AARP continues to argue that their organization is "fiercely nonpartisan". And while they claim to have no "political action committee.", somehow they still manage to get their "nonpartisan", non-political message across...

From AARP's website, a section on issues and advocacy addresses the topic, Health Care Reform: The Assault on Truth:

"This summer something new has entered the political arena—a tsunami of rumors, myths, fear-mongering and misinformation about the proposals on...“ and lists the following links:

• July a Banner Month for Health Care Reform
• Health Care Reform on the Fast Track
• 8 Myths About Health Care Reform
• Tell Congress that now is the time for Health Reform!

In addition, AARP Florida has launched an advertising campaign and, according to reports, it is intended to "bust the myths some are spreading to frighten Americans, including falsehoods that fixing the health-care system will lead to rationed health care, a government takeover or even euthanasia."

Last week, AARP Florida held a health care forum where Lori Parham, director of AARP Florida, repeatedly told the crowd that the seniors' group has not endorsed any reform bills. The St. Petersburg Times, reported how one person in attendance, Jan Smith, an AARP member from Leesburg, "pressed Parham to point out one provision the AARP doesn't like in the bill."

"I can't give you a definitive answer on that," Parham said.

 In an ongoing examination of AARP alternatives, today's buzz is another senior advocacy group, 60 Plus Association. 60 Plus Association has recently earned attention with this month's release of their new TV ad. Targeted at seniors, the following video presents opposing views to the proposed health care legislation or Obamacare, as it is referred to on 60 Plus's website.

"Entitled 'Sacrifice,' the ad states that seniors today, The Greatest Generation, have spent their lives sacrificing to protect freedom and strengthen our nation. Now, in seniors’ most vulnerable stage of life, President Obama and Congress are asking them to sacrifice even more by cutting Medicare to pay for healthcare reform, meaning long waits for care and even possible denial of care. But perhaps the scariest part, the ad says, is that the government, not your doctor, decides if older patients are worth the cost. And the cruel joke is that many politicians are designing a health care plan for the country that they themselves are exempted from."

For the past 17 years, 60 Plus Association has been an advocacy group based in Arlington, Virginia, that bills itself as the "conservatives' alternative to the AARP." In a statement by 60 Plus President, Jim Martin, entitled AARP Members Flocking To 60 Plus, Martin says that disgruntled AARP members are "leaving in disgust" and 60 Plus is receiving "thousands of dollars in unsolicited donations."
Martin adds that during his recent appearance on CSPAN, a caller asked who funded 60 Plus? Martin affirmed that he "disappointed the caller by telling her over 270,000 concerned citizens but NOT the Insurance lobby nor big PHARMA."

60plus.org