The many faces of AARP

[Geee]

American Thinker:

My wife just turned 50, so she recently experienced that least favorite American rite of passage: the arrival of the dreaded solicitation letter from AARP.

I'm pleased to say that she took advantage of this opportunity to do precisely as I have done for the past eight years: she immediately and with malice aforethought dropped the solicitation in the trash.

Not that she was offended by the reminder of her advanced age; rather, because she holds AARP in contempt.

So do I.

Two quick questions, dear reader: 1) Do you belong to AARP? 2) Which AARP do you belong to?

If you're confused by the second question your confusion is, in AARP's eyes, a marketing triumph.

You are likely thinking, "Which AARP? Why, I belong to the American Association of Retired Persons. I belong to that AARP."

Surprise. There is no such thing as the American Association of Retired Persons. The non-profit organization that was founded in 1956 to help older folks was renamed some years ago. It's now called AARP and it exists as three separate organizations. (Actually four, but for our purposes let's ignore the international branch. This is confusing enough.)

The umbrella organization is a non-profit known simply as AARP.

Then there is the AARP Foundation. It's the AARP of old, a non-profit dedicated to providing for the needs of America's retired folk, or to phrase it more accurately, to anyone 50 or older who's willing to pony up the $16 annual fee. This is the outfit that trains older drivers, provides tax preparation assistance and provides other do-good services.

You belong to that AARP.

You also belong to the other AARP -- AARP Services, Inc., a second wholly-owned subsidiary of AARP. This fully for-profit organization has 37 million members and total reported revenues of more than $1.4 billion per year. AARP Services sells stuff, included branded insurance policies.

AARP Services also spends tens of millions of dollars on lobbying, including its recent effort on behalf of the Health Care Reform Act -- better known as Obamacare.

Were you under the impression that AARP promoted Obamacare because they are your enthusiastic, non-profit, fully-charitable-in-intent advocates?

Think again. AARP Services stands to rake in more than $1 billion in new business from, you guessed it, Obamacare.

[RandyM]

If someone really has it set in their heart to be a member of a retired persons organization without the liberal progressivism of AARP, then perhaps they should consider AMAC (Association of Mature American Citizens), founded specifically to be the conservative alternative to AARP.

 

(No, I don't work for them and I'm not a member. I just get regular emails from them.)