AARP Arkansas Leaders Support Improving Health Care

Pat Jones, AARP Arkansas associate state director, planned and coordinated a major media offensive to educate the public about health care reform during the August congressional recess. A KARK-TV story focused on AARP's priority to provide coverage for 50-64 year olds. In it, Jerry Lancaster, a member of the AARP Arkansas Executive Council, talked about how too many Arkansans over 50 must choose between buying groceries and buying their prescription drugs. (See the interview, as broadcasted.)

On the NPR affiliate station in Arkansas, KUAR, an excellent 4:30 minute radio news feature by local reporter Malcolm Glover was broadcast, about the disruptions in health care reform public forums, the health care reform myths and scare tactics. In that article, Maria Reynolds-Diaz, AARP Arkansas state director; Jerry Lancaster, AARP Arkansas Executive Council member; and a Candace Olsen, a local director of Health Care for America Now! Debunk some of the myths about health care reform which are swirling around the airwaves and cropping up at live town hall meetings with the state’s U.S. congressmen and senators.

Diaz spoke passionately about the false charge that AARP supports ‘death panels’ to counsel patients and families at the end of the patient’s life. “That’s absolutely not true,” she said. “And if it were true, AARP would be fighting it.” The news feature is available on the KUAR web site.

AARP Arkansas collaborated with the state educational television station, AETN, to present a two-hour, live, call-in program on August 12th at 7 p.m. The program featured Associate State Director Herb Sanderson and AARP volunteer, Hank Klein in panel discussions on health care reform and financial security. Other panelists representing government and the private sector joined the discussion. Staff from AARP and collaborating groups also answered a steady stream of questions live by phone during the program.
 
More than 90 thousand dollars worth of paid ads were published in daily newspapers and on local radio stations during the August congressional recess. The ads began on August 9th and ran through the end of the month, and shared the facts about a few of the most common myths about health care reform.

The nearly full-page, color newspaper ads include a myth such as “Health care reform will lead to rationed care,” with the word “False” written over it in red. Below that attention-grabbing title appears accurate information about the end-of-life counseling provision in H.R. 3200. It explains that the counseling would be completely voluntary and unbiased.