AARP Endorses Affordable Health Care for America Act

After carefully monitoring developments in Washington and studying the various legislative proposals, AARP’s all-volunteer Board of Directors — made up of working and retired doctors, nurses, business people, and teachers — has decided to endorse the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962/H.R. 3961) because it delivers on key priorities we’ve been fighting for.

What Health Reform Will Mean for You and Your Family
H.R.3962 and H.R. 3961, which will be voted on in the coming days, contain critical components AARP has been fighting for on your behalf — proposals that would improve health care for older Americans and their families. 

They include:

• Protecting and strengthening Medicare for today’s seniors and future generations of retirees.

• Ensuring seniors can see the doctor of their choice or find a doctor if they need one by improving Medicare’s payments to doctors.

• Lowering drug costs for seniors by closing the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole."

• Taking steps to reduce waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency in the Medicare program.

• Requiring Medicare and insurance companies to provide for important preventive services like screenings for diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis free of charge for those who don’t have coverage.

• Preventing insurers from denying affordable coverage to anyone because of their age or health.

• Limiting how much your insurance company can make you pay out-of-pocket.

• Providing affordable health insurance options for those who don’t have insurance or can’t afford it.

• Providing benefits to help seniors and people with disabilities live in their own homes and communities.

On Your Side
While AARP is pleased to see that H.R. 3962/H.R. 3961 include many of the proposals that are most critical to protecting Medicare and ensuring Americans age 50+ have access to stable, affordable health care, we know the fight isn’t over. 

That’s why we’re going to keep working with members of the House and Senate to ensure our priorities are included in any final health care reform bill.   

And, as the legislative process moves forward, we've let Congress and the Administration know that we will fight with the strength of our nearly 40 million members against any proposal that would hurt rather than help Medicare and older Americans’ access to affordable, quality health care.

If you'd like to discuss Health Care Reform in AARP's Online Community, please join the group Health Action Now Mythbusters.