AARP may have lost thousands of members for supporting ObamaCare, but it appears to have gained quite a windfall in the process. That’s one of several striking conclusions in a new report released by members of the House Ways & Means Committee. Titled “Behind the Veil: The AARP America Doesn’t Know,” this investigative report details how AARP, considered “one of the most formidable lobbying forces in Washington,” stands to rake in more than $1 billion over the next ten years on account of a health care law that is forcing millions of seniors off the coverage they like.
The report is already reverberating around the country, giving momentum to calls for the IRS to investigate AARP’s tax-exempt status:
·  “Did AARP, the nation’s leading advocacy group for older Americans, fight for last year's federal health-care law to the detriment of its members?,” The Seattle Times asks. “Guilty, according to U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and his fellow House Republicans — and they contend AARP had a motive. On Wednesday, three members of the House Committee on Ways and Means released a report detailing what they called troubling conflicts over the nonprofit group’s multimillion-dollar foray into for-profit insurance businesses.”
· “U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany and other Republicans said Wednesday they will call on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether AARP has abused its tax-exempt status and misled millions of its senior-citizen members,” the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser reports. “‘It’s about fairness and transparency,’ Boustany said. ‘It's about accountability to taxpayers.’”
· The report is “a fascinating read,” according to The Fiscal Times, which calls the scale of AARP’s insurance dealings “breathtaking.”
· “The subcommittee … found that AARP’s haul from sponsoring insurance plans have nearly tripled in recent years to $657 million a year,” Fox News reports. “What does it do with all that money? AARP has charitable foundations, but the report says the contributions to them have barely moved…”
· “The dual nature of AARP has raised questions before,” the Associated Press notes.
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