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AARP To Kucinich: Drop Dead
Sep 20, 2007
AARP President Bill Novelli is a company man.
No, the company is not AARP.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about AARP or its 38 million members.
If he did, he wouldn't be selling down them down river by opposing a single payer system that would benefit not just AARP members, but everyone in the country.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about the health of the nation.
What he cares about are the health insurance companies.
Novelli - a founder of the giant Porter Novelli corporate public relations firm - jumped to AARP in 2000.
But he never shed his corporate skin.
Case in point?
On Thursday night, AARP will host a debate in Iowa on the issue of health care.
Republicans and Democrats running for President will attend.
Of all of the Democrats and Republicans in the race, guess who is the only one who would put the Novelli's buddies in the health insurance industry out of business?
Guess who is the only candidate among the Democrats and Republicans who would create a Canadian-style single payer, everybody in, nobody out, no deductibles, no co-pays, no in-network, no out-of-network, streamlined system that would save billions of dollars in administrative costs, deliver a higher quality health care system, and cover everyone?
Yes.
And guess who was not invited to confront Novelli's corporate brotherhood of profit and death?
You guessed it.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Why?
Well, Kucinich would put out of business Novelli's corporate support system - including United Healthcare and Aetna.
Earlier this year, both these health care industry giants signed a contract with AARP that will net AARP a cool $4.4 billion over seven years.
Kucinich said that AARP sponsorship of the Presidential forum "is like having Haliburton or Blackwater sponsor a Presidential forum on doing away with no-bid government contracts to private contractors - or an oil company sponsoring a forum on reducing the world's dependence on oil."
"Millions of trusting AARP members have bought Medicare-supplemental and prescription drug insurance plans from AARP, believing that they were getting a good deal," Kucinich said. "It turns out, however, that AARP is taking a $4 billion cut by steering its members to profiteering private insurance companies trying to capitalize on fear and confusion."
"The fact that Senators Clinton, Obama, and former Senator Edwards are pushing plans to keep the for-profit private insurers in business and in control may explain why they are willing to participate in this fake and tainted debate," Kucinich said.
Kucinich also questioned the decision by Iowa Public Television to televise the Presidential forum and simulcast it to other PBS stations in other states.
"Profit-driven and politics-driven media conglomerates are controlling what we see on TV and what we hear on the radio. Public broadcasting should represent a higher, more ethical standard. In this case, public broadcasting will shamefully promote private interests."
We're all getting old.
But we don't have to all join AARP.
If your not a member yet, don't join.
If you are a member, call Novelli and tell him to take a hike.
Then sign on with any Presidential candidate who supports single payer.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
AARP President Bill Novelli is a company man.
No, the company is not AARP.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about AARP or its 38 million members.
If he did, he wouldn't be selling down them down river by opposing a single payer system that would benefit not just AARP members, but everyone in the country.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about the health of the nation.
What he cares about are the health insurance companies.
Novelli - a founder of the giant Porter Novelli corporate public relations firm - jumped to AARP in 2000.
But he never shed his corporate skin.
Case in point?
On Thursday night, AARP will host a debate in Iowa on the issue of health care.
Republicans and Democrats running for President will attend.
Of all of the Democrats and Republicans in the race, guess who is the only one who would put the Novelli's buddies in the health insurance industry out of business?
Guess who is the only candidate among the Democrats and Republicans who would create a Canadian-style single payer, everybody in, nobody out, no deductibles, no co-pays, no in-network, no out-of-network, streamlined system that would save billions of dollars in administrative costs, deliver a higher quality health care system, and cover everyone?
Yes.
And guess who was not invited to confront Novelli's corporate brotherhood of profit and death?
You guessed it.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Why?
Well, Kucinich would put out of business Novelli's corporate support system - including United Healthcare and Aetna.
Earlier this year, both these health care industry giants signed a contract with AARP that will net AARP a cool $4.4 billion over seven years.
Kucinich said that AARP sponsorship of the Presidential forum "is like having Haliburton or Blackwater sponsor a Presidential forum on doing away with no-bid government contracts to private contractors - or an oil company sponsoring a forum on reducing the world's dependence on oil."
"Millions of trusting AARP members have bought Medicare-supplemental and prescription drug insurance plans from AARP, believing that they were getting a good deal," Kucinich said. "It turns out, however, that AARP is taking a $4 billion cut by steering its members to profiteering private insurance companies trying to capitalize on fear and confusion."
"The fact that Senators Clinton, Obama, and former Senator Edwards are pushing plans to keep the for-profit private insurers in business and in control may explain why they are willing to participate in this fake and tainted debate," Kucinich said.
Kucinich also questioned the decision by Iowa Public Television to televise the Presidential forum and simulcast it to other PBS stations in other states.
"Profit-driven and politics-driven media conglomerates are controlling what we see on TV and what we hear on the radio. Public broadcasting should represent a higher, more ethical standard. In this case, public broadcasting will shamefully promote private interests."
We're all getting old.
But we don't have to all join AARP.
If your not a member yet, don't join.
If you are a member, call Novelli and tell him to take a hike.
Then sign on with any Presidential candidate who supports single payer.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
AARP President Bill Novelli is a company man.
No, the company is not AARP.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about AARP or its 38 million members.
If he did, he wouldn't be selling down them down river by opposing a single payer system that would benefit not just AARP members, but everyone in the country.
Novelli doesn't give a damn about the health of the nation.
What he cares about are the health insurance companies.
Novelli - a founder of the giant Porter Novelli corporate public relations firm - jumped to AARP in 2000.
But he never shed his corporate skin.
Case in point?
On Thursday night, AARP will host a debate in Iowa on the issue of health care.
Republicans and Democrats running for President will attend.
Of all of the Democrats and Republicans in the race, guess who is the only one who would put the Novelli's buddies in the health insurance industry out of business?
Guess who is the only candidate among the Democrats and Republicans who would create a Canadian-style single payer, everybody in, nobody out, no deductibles, no co-pays, no in-network, no out-of-network, streamlined system that would save billions of dollars in administrative costs, deliver a higher quality health care system, and cover everyone?
Yes.
And guess who was not invited to confront Novelli's corporate brotherhood of profit and death?
You guessed it.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Why?
Well, Kucinich would put out of business Novelli's corporate support system - including United Healthcare and Aetna.
Earlier this year, both these health care industry giants signed a contract with AARP that will net AARP a cool $4.4 billion over seven years.
Kucinich said that AARP sponsorship of the Presidential forum "is like having Haliburton or Blackwater sponsor a Presidential forum on doing away with no-bid government contracts to private contractors - or an oil company sponsoring a forum on reducing the world's dependence on oil."
"Millions of trusting AARP members have bought Medicare-supplemental and prescription drug insurance plans from AARP, believing that they were getting a good deal," Kucinich said. "It turns out, however, that AARP is taking a $4 billion cut by steering its members to profiteering private insurance companies trying to capitalize on fear and confusion."
"The fact that Senators Clinton, Obama, and former Senator Edwards are pushing plans to keep the for-profit private insurers in business and in control may explain why they are willing to participate in this fake and tainted debate," Kucinich said.
Kucinich also questioned the decision by Iowa Public Television to televise the Presidential forum and simulcast it to other PBS stations in other states.
"Profit-driven and politics-driven media conglomerates are controlling what we see on TV and what we hear on the radio. Public broadcasting should represent a higher, more ethical standard. In this case, public broadcasting will shamefully promote private interests."
We're all getting old.
But we don't have to all join AARP.
If your not a member yet, don't join.
If you are a member, call Novelli and tell him to take a hike.
Then sign on with any Presidential candidate who supports single payer.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.