AARP State Volunteers tell Congress to Protect Medicare

If you’ve been following the news lately, you probably know that members of Congress were on recess last week, back in their home districts to meet with their constituents. And by most accounts, it was one of the busiest recess weeks in recent history.

You may have seen television footage of crowds packed into town hall meetings, many voicing their frustrations with what’s going on in Washington. But away from the cameras, AARP staff and volunteers were meeting one-on-one with their senators and representatives and staff to urge them to oppose any attempt to turn Medicare into a voucher program.

Whether it’s AARP volunteer Sherri Moore meeting with her Republican congressman, Scott Perry, in Gettysburg, Pa., Claudio Gualtieri connecting with Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro in Hartford, Conn., or Bill Hawkins talking to the staff of Republican Sen. Richard Shelby in Birmingham, Ala., they delivered a clear message: AARP will fight any attempt to make changes to Medicare that will shift costs and risks to seniors and workers who are paying in today.

These meetings are part of our nationwide Protect Medicare campaign to squash attempts by leaders in Congress to turn Medicare into a voucher system.

Watch this video to hear AARP members tell Congress just how harmful this proposal would be to them and their families.

We are also letting Congress know that we are strongly opposed to the “age tax,” another bad idea that’s being tossed around Capitol Hill. The age tax refers to proposed legislation that would allow insurers to make older Americans to pay significantly more for health insurance than they do right now. Under current law, insurers are not allowed to charge older people more than three times the amount charged to younger people. The new law would increase that to five times the amount, making health insurance coverage simply unavailable or unaffordable for millions of 50- to 64-year-olds not yet eligible for Medicare.  This has the potential to cost older Americans thousands of dollars a year.