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- The Villages, Florida, Non Villages Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-non-villages-discussion-93/)

- - AARP Yes or No? (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-non-villages-discussion-93/aarp-yes-no-107228/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubicon (Post 841245)

The power of advertising gets the best of many of us. We think not but it does. AARP has has hammered so hard on the fact that they represent the interests of retired persons but their actions speak otherwise.

Its the same with BBB. They mean well but they are totally ineffective.

Both organizations hurt in another sense in that they offer false positives; meaning most people are better off going it alone

When I left AARP I enrolled with AMAC. The moment I saw they were also advertising for insurance products I stopped

I am tired of being treated as if I just fell out of a tree by organizations such as this, politicians, corporation and the public sector. They do not even make an attempt to cover up their insincerity any longer

AARP does not "advertise for insurance products". They use their massive membership to negotiate rates and provisions for their benefit. The New York Life plans offered through AARP are not offered through any other venue, they were specifically developed with input from AARP. You can belong to any organization you care to, but I think the political objections to AARP are overly reactionary. Interesting that several people say they like the AARP insurance programs (which were negotiated on members behalf) but don't like AARP. As they say - membership has its privileges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eweissenbach (Post 841296)

Hi coach: I beg to differ with you I have seen them advertise on television, in magazines, etc. usually in the form of endorsements such as with UHC
You can label it overly reactionary, plain stupid or whatever you like but when I recognized that my dues were being used to advance their agenda and not "the people's" interest it made it clear that I was wasting my money

Personal Best Regards:

Quote:

Originally Posted by l2ridehd (Post 840995)

I dropped AARP when they became a "political voice of their leadership" without regard to their members wishes. They never asked the membership how they felt about gun control, they just decided to lobby for it. They never asked the membership how they felt about ACA, they just decided to support it. I would have stayed if they polled the members and a majority supported some position and then they spent their lobby (read our) lobbying $$$$. But they used member money to support what the leadership wanted, not necessarily what the members wanted.

Maybe tomorrow they will decide that everyone should die by 75 or be terminated and use your money to support it. Pick any position you don't support and if they chose to support it, they will. They will never ask you what you think. They believe they know what is best for all of us. I don't think they do.

So never again will I join AARP.

I totally agree with what you have stated and do even more after reading the following Forbes article. It's quite an eye opener:

How the AARP Made $2.8 Billion By Supporting Obamacare's Cuts to Medicare - Forbes

Quote:

Originally Posted by eweissenbach (Post 841296)

AARP does not "advertise for insurance products". They use their massive membership to negotiate rates and provisions for their benefit. The New York Life plans offered through AARP are not offered through any other venue, they were specifically developed with input from AARP. You can belong to any organization you care to, but I think the political objections to AARP are overly reactionary. Interesting that several people say they like the AARP insurance programs (which were negotiated on members behalf) but don't like AARP. As they say - membership has its privileges.

Does not advertise for insurance products??

"According to AARP's 2008 Consolidated financials, it was paid $652,000,000 in royalties from insurance companies that sold products referred by AARP.

AARP also received an additional $120,000,000 for the advertisements placed in its publications."

......Health insurance

Approximately seven million people have AARP branded health insurance, including drug coverage and Medigap, as of April 2007 and AARP earns more income from selling insurance to members than it does from membership dues.
......

...AARP will likely become the largest source of health insurance for Medicare recipients, and AARP estimates the new products will increase its health insurance customers to 14 million by 2014.

AARP is not an insurer and does not pay insurance claims. Instead, AARP allows its name to be used by insurance companies in the sale of insurance products, for which it is paid a commission like an insurance agent.

Senator Charles E. Grassley... Senate Finance Committee, said in 2008 that the "limited benefit" insurance plans offered by AARP through UnitedHealth provided inadequate coverage and were marketed deceptively. One plan offered $5,000 for surgery that may cost two or three times that amount.......

AARP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia AARP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I find AARP publications very informative and have saved money with that information. I also have my car insurance (because its the best price) through AARP and my supplemental health insurance for the past six years because it is an excellent plan. None of the publications are "political" --- nothing like the comments in this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nipper (Post 841315)

I don't think anybody has said their insurance plans weren't well priced or were not good coverage/service.

What is being said in the thread is that:

- they make more (hundreds of) millions of dollars more from insurance advertising/sales/royalties than they do from membership dues;

- they profit in the hundreds of millions from government/taxpayer-sponsored insurance plans like Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, federal/state employee plans etc;

- those profits are always thought to be money that could be used to provide coverage to those who cannot get or afford it;

- those profits stand to increase hugely with the government giving them with United Healthcare even more "public" coverage contracts in the current reform. In fact, the "United Healthcare MEDICARE STORES" that opened here in TV illustrate that growth.

- it's the agenda in the background that's what's being discussed here....not "politics".

I don't think a single person here wants insurance companies to make even more profits at the expense of financing the programs that are supposed to get everyone covered affordably.

No, Ever wonder why they don't offer a life time membership? I let my membership expire and joined the NRA, better discounts.

By virtue of the fact that AARP inserts itself in the marketing/selling process of insurance it has in effect raised the cost of doing business and that cost is transferred to consumers.