Yet another birthday has passed, and with each passing year, I am reminded that I was the generation I was waiting for to fix things, and I haven’t.
Yet another birthday has passed, and with each passing year, I am reminded that I was the generation I was waiting for to fix things, and I haven’t.
But it seems I do have a chance to make things better, and it comes from my good friends at AARP.
Don’t scoff. I am a proud member of AARP. I carry my membership card prominently in my wallet.
I’m told that AARP, a nonprofit, non-partisan membership organization, is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington. Membership is open to anyone over the age of 50 (not just retired people), and membership has its privileges, from lower rates for auto insurance to a Medicare supplement plan to just getting reduced prices for my pancakes at International House of Pancakes restaurant.
But the real strength of AARP is its numbers. It is estimated that AARP has 35 million members, and it is trying to mobilize those members to effect change in Washington.
I got an e-mail from AARP last week asking me to write a letter to the editor of my local newspaper about health care reform. Since I work at my local newspaper, I was interested to see what AARP would have me write to me.
I admit I don’t know all the details about H.R.3200 – America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.
Its stated purpose is, “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.”
I admit it is those “other purposes” that gives me the willies. I know that it is expected to cost $1 trillion (that’s 12 zeroes) over 10 years. I want everyone to be able to afford health care. That means most people will have to have some kind of health insurance.
It means someone will have to find a way to lower the costs. And it means that at some point we’ll have to spend as much time and money on keeping ourselves well, as we do treating ourselves when we are sick. And it means that somehow, someone is going to have to take on the trial lawyers through tort reform so that they don’t keep forcing prices up by chasing and catching those ambulances.
______
To read the rest of this article, subscribe to our digital or paper edition. For previous editions, contact us for details.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
