AARP Boosts Bottom Line with Medicare Advantage Plans
Posted Oct 28 2008 9:57pm
Bloomberg has reported that the American Association of Retired Persons (now d.b.a. as AARP) has struck deals with Aetna and UnitedHealth for new insurance plans. AARP’s revenue from insurance will jump about 50% next year (from about $409 million this year) to about $628 million next year. No word on when AARP will launch its new tagline: The Power to Make More Money!
As part of the deal, UnitedHealth will run the first AARP-branded and endorsed Medicare Advantage insurance plan. These Medicare Advantage plans are really cash cows and AARP is looking to capitalize on government overpayments to MA plans (recent media stories have noted that Medicare Advantage plans receive 12% more from the government than traditional plans).
According to Bloomberg, “AARP says it’s backing a Medicare Advantage program while continuing to oppose what it recently called ‘inflated payments’ to privately run plans.” In other words, AARP opposes overpayments to others, but is more than willing to collect inflated payments itself (AARP calls this a “leadership position”).
This isn’t the first time that AARP has put profits first. AARP’s endorsement of the Medicare Part D benefit landed the organization in a whole lot of criticism along with the organization’s very cozy relationships with insurance companies and others. One of AARP CEO Bill Novelli’s first moves was to bring in big business like Home Depot for sponsorships.
AARP can spin this anyway it wants, but its completely hypocritical to criticize Medicare Advantage plans one week and then announce you are launching your own the next.
Bloomberg has reported that the American Association of Retired Persons (now d.b.a. as AARP) has struck deals with Aetna and UnitedHealth for new insurance plans. AARP’s revenue from insurance will jump about 50% next year (from about $409 million this year) to about $628 million next year. No word on when AARP will launch its new tagline: The Power to Make More Money!
As part of the deal, UnitedHealth will run the first AARP-branded and endorsed Medicare Advantage insurance plan. These Medicare Advantage plans are really cash cows and AARP is looking to capitalize on government overpayments to MA plans (recent media stories have noted that Medicare Advantage plans receive 12% more from the government than traditional plans).
According to Bloomberg, “AARP says it’s backing a Medicare Advantage program while continuing to oppose what it recently called ‘inflated payments’ to privately run plans.” In other words, AARP opposes overpayments to others, but is more than willing to collect inflated payments itself (AARP calls this a “leadership position”).
This isn’t the first time that AARP has put profits first. AARP’s endorsement of the Medicare Part D benefit landed the organization in a whole lot of criticism along with the organization’s very cozy relationships with insurance companies and others. One of AARP CEO Bill Novelli’s first moves was to bring in big business like Home Depot for sponsorships.
AARP can spin this anyway it wants, but its completely hypocritical to criticize Medicare Advantage plans one week and then announce you are launching your own the next.