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Kaiser Health News article

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Here's a good story in Kaiser Health News. While I do appreciate the skills of the AARP communications department, and FleishmanHillard, I think even they would agree that WP:NPOV improves the article and makes it more credible.

The Criticism section avoids one of the most common criticisms of AARP in WP:RS -- its conflicts of interest -- which are detailed in this KHN story. While AARP is a non-profit, it gets most of its income from royalties, including UnitedHealthCare. In their policy decisions and product recommendations, are they serving the interests of their members, or their own interests of collecting revenue (and executive payments)? Bruce Vladic said that AARP "is in the insurance business." The conservative group American Commitment said that AARP "has grown in to a marketing and sales firm with a public policy advocacy group on the side." This conflict of interest came up when AARP supported Medicare Advantage in 2003, which this Wikipedia article does discuss under "Health Insurance". However, one of the big problems with this Wikipedia article is the section on "Single Payer," which contains a snippit from John Conyers and three paragraphs of AARP official statements explaining why single payer wouldn't work.

I think the common theme in all of this is that AARP started as an insurance company, and expanded into a large, effective public policy lobbying organization representing seniors, generally advocating liberal and Democratic policies (supporting Obamacare). But many of its critics point to its financial conflicts of interest, which benefit the organization and its well-paid executives, at the expense of its members. This accusation came up particularly in the debate over single payer.

https://khn.org/news/article/aarp-health-marketing-partnerships-medicare-medigap/
AARP’s Billion-Dollar Bounty
By Fred Schulte
Kaiser Health News
JUNE 6, 2022

There is also a link in this article's archives to an article in the New York Times on AARP by Paul Krugman.

--Nbauman (talk) 17:56, 7 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Edit Request: Advocacy section

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NOTE: I’m proposing the following edits for FleishmanHillard on behalf of AARP. I am a paid editor and aware of the COI guidelines. I’m submitting these edits to correct inaccuracies and provide additional detail for the Infobox and Advocacy sections and have provided related sourcing for review. Please let me know of any questions or comments. Thanks for your time and consideration.

“Infobox section”

I am suggesting the following change to the Infobox to improve the accuracy of the article.

  • Edit request 1: Suggest removing the role of National Volunteer President that currently names Catherine Alicia Georges. This role was ended in 2020 and no longer exists within AARP. Source: [1]

“Advocacy section”

I am suggesting the following Advocacy section edits to 1) add additional context about the history of the Medicare Part D signing, 2) provide historical context to AARP’s lobbying efforts against the pharmaceutical industry, 3) detail AARP’s efforts to improve brain health, which are an important part of the organization’s healthcare story.

  • Edit request 2: Two requests here: 1) Update third paragraph under Health care to include President George W. Bush’s endorsement of the 2003 Medicare reform. These changes add context detailing the importance of this legislation to the then-current administration. 2) Update last sentence of paragraph to provide a source for Divided We Fail and include additional context about the program.

AARP's public stances influenced the United States Congress' passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D, in 2003, and also influenced Congress by resisting changes to Social Security in 2005. President George W. Bush called the Medicare legislation “the greatest advance in health care coverage for America’s seniors since the founding of Medicare.” [2] In 2007, AARP launched the “Divided We Fail” campaign with the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Service Employees International Union. The campaign urged presidential candidates in both major parties to commit to making health insurance coverage more affordable and to strengthen Social Security. [3]

  • Edit request 3: Add additional paragraphs at the end of the health care subcategory to detail AARP’s extensive history lobbying against the pharma industry. These two paragraphs would go after the paragraph that starts with “By 2009, more than 50 million Americans”.

In 2019, AARP mounted a multi-million dollar campaign against the pharmaceutical industry and its high drug prices, an effort that positioned AARP as the “drug industry’s primary opponent.” Max Richtman, head of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said, “PhRMA is an 800-pound gorilla. And I think they’re meeting another 800-pound gorilla in AARP.” [4] AARP supported a bipartisan bill that year by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) that set caps on drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries and increased pressure on drug companies to lower prices. [5] In 2021, AARP launched the “Fair Rx Prices Now!” Campaign to support legislation that would enable the Medicare Program to negotiate prices with drug companies as a means of lowering prices for consumers, limit price increases for certain drugs and cap out-of-pocket spending by Medicare beneficiaries. [6]

As early as 1959, AARP began advocating for lower prescription drug costs to ease the burden on older consumers. Founder Ethel Percy Andrus testified during the 1962 Senate hearings on pharmaceutical industry pricing practices. “Our concern is relief from suffering and improvement of health. We feel that 15 to 20 percent profit earned by several large manufacturers is detrimental to this concern,” Andrus told the committee in 1962. [7] AARP regularly publishes Rx Price Watch Reports noting pricing trends in popular drugs for seniors and AARP's advocacy for lower prices has put it at odds with the drug industry. [8] AARP and PhRMA continue to drive the debate about prescription drug prices in Washington.[4]

  • Edit request 4: Add a paragraph to the end of the healthcare section after the two above highlighting AARP’s significant investment in brain health research (more than $60 million).

In a 2014 study conducted by AARP, 93% of people identified maintaining brain health as a high priority as they age. [9] The organization created a brain health assessment and program called Staying Sharp [10] and it formed the Global Council on Brain Health – an independent, international group of brain health experts and researchers that publishes findings such as the impact of music on brain health. [11][12] In 2018, AARP donated $60 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund for research into the causes and treatments of Alzheimer’s Disease. [13][14]

Thank you for your time and consideration. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 00:17, 6 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

 Partly done I've implemented request #1. I don't have the time to read through the rest right in-depth now; some of the language is non-neutral (AARP mounted a multi-million dollar campaign against the pharmaceutical industry and its high drug prices, an effort that positioned AARP as the “drug industry’s primary opponent.”, for example, contains a quotation that is not attributed to anyone and puts in WikiVoice the claim that the pharmaceutical industry's drug prices are objectively high). And sources like GoBankingRates (see original article) seem more like PR blogs rather than reliable sources. I might take a shot later today at rephrasing some of the information, but the proposed paragraphs in requests 2-4 appear to have issues w.r.t. NPOV and source reliability and cannot be implemented as-is. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 18:18, 15 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for taking the time to review this request. I will update the wording and sources in edit requests 2-4 to align with your feedback and Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. Once updated, I'll share back on this Talk page and reply to let you know if you wouldn't mind doing a second review. Appreciate it. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 19:53, 9 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ N/A, N/A. "Catherine Alicia Georges". Aspen Ideas. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  2. ^ NA, NA (December 8, 2003). "Bush signs landmark Medicare bill into law". CNN. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  3. ^ Evans, Will (September 8, 2008). "Profile: Divided We Fail". NPR. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Florko, Nicholas (September 17, 2019). "With ominous TV spots and a senior 'strike force,' AARP launches an all-out attack on pharma". Stat News. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  5. ^ Alonzo-Zaldivar, Ricardo (July 23, 2019). "GOP, Dems offer compromise to reduce drug costs for seniors". Associated Press. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  6. ^ Cariaga, Vance (May 4, 2021). "Medicare and prescription drug affordability for seniors – AARP invests $4.5 million in campaign to influencer new legislation". MSN. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  7. ^ Hearings Before the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Eighty-Seventh Congress Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1970. p. 192. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  8. ^ Avery, Taylor (June 8, 2021). "Prescription drug prices increased twice the inflation rate of US economy in 2020, AARP report finds". USA Today. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  9. ^ Fick, Donna (June 20, 2016). "Promoting cognitive health: Some good news and a brief summary of the Institute of Medicine Report Cognitive aging: Progress in understanding and opportunities for action". Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Vol. 42, No. 7. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  10. ^ Pavini, Jeanette (June 19, 2020). "5 things you can do to boost your brain's health". The Street. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  11. ^ Bauers, Sandy (April 14, 2021). "Dementia, Alzheimer's have reached a crisis point, Penn researcher says. Here's what you can do about it". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  12. ^ Mintzer, Jacobo (October 4, 2019). "Lifestyle choices and brain health". National Library of Medicine. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  13. ^ Shieber, Jonathan (June 25, 2018). "AARP commits $60 million to a fund backing new treatments for dementia". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  14. ^ Mukherjee, Sy (June 26, 2018). "The AARP, UnitedHealth and Quest Diagnostics are pouring $75 million into fighting Alzheimer's and dementia". Fortune. Retrieved June 20, 2022.

Follow Up To Edit Request: Advocacy Section

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@Red-tailed hawk: Thank you for your feedback on the Advocacy section edit request from July 6, 2022. The request has been updated based on your suggestions. I added more notable sources, eliminated questionable sources and rephrased language to include a more neutral POV. A summary of the updates for each edit request below has been added.

NOTE: I’m proposing the following edits for FleishmanHillard on behalf of AARP. I am a paid editor and aware of the COI guidelines. I’m submitting these edits to correct inaccuracies and provide additional detail for the Infobox and Advocacy sections and have provided related sourcing for review. Please let me know of any questions or comments. Thanks for your time and consideration.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Justin Goldsborough (talk • contribs) 15:25, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

‘‘‘Advocacy section’’’

I am suggesting the following Advocacy section edits to 1) add additional context about the history of the Medicare Part D signing, 2) provide historical context to AARP’s lobbying efforts supporting lower prescription drug prices and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, 3) detail AARP’s efforts to improve brain health.

“Edit 1”

  • Original request: 1) Update third paragraph of Health care section under Advocacy to include President George W. Bush’s endorsement of the 2003 Medicare reform. Details importance of this legislation to the then-current administration. 2) Update last sentence of paragraph to provide a source for Divided We Fail.
  • Updates: Added an additional source that speaks to the motivation behind “Divided We Fail” launch.
  • Placement: Third paragraph under Health care in Advocacy section after sentence ending in “Social security in 2005.” Replace final sentence of that paragraph with content below.

President George W. Bush called the Medicare legislation “the greatest advance in health care coverage for America’s seniors since the founding of Medicare.” [1] In 2007, AARP launched the “Divided We Fail” campaign with the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Service Employees International Union. The campaign urged presidential candidates in both major parties to commit to making health insurance coverage more affordable and to strengthen Social Security. [2][3]

“Edit 2”

  • Original request: Add additional paragraphs at the end of the Health care subsection to detail AARP’s lobbying history.
  • Updates: Removed Stat News source, replaced with new Forbes source as proof point for “Stop Rx Greed.” Removed quotation in question from Stat News article. Removed GoBankingRates source.
  • Placement: Add additional paragraphs at the end of the Health care section under Advocacy after the paragraph that starts with “By 2009, more than 50 million Americans”.

In 2019, AARP mounted a multi-million dollar campaign against the pharmaceutical industry and its high drug prices called “Stop Rx Greed” [4] and supported a bipartisan bill by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) that set caps on drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries and increased pressure on drug companies to lower prices. [5] In 2021, AARP launched the “Fair Rx Prices Now!” Campaign to support legislation that would enable the Medicare Program to negotiate prices with drug companies as a means of lowering prices for consumers, limit price increases for certain drugs and cap out-of-pocket spending by Medicare beneficiaries. [6]

As early as 1959, AARP began advocating for lower prescription drug costs to ease the burden on older consumers. [7] Founder Ethel Percy Andrus testified during the 1962 Senate hearings on pharmaceutical industry pricing practices. “Our concern is relief from suffering and improvement of health. We feel that 15 to 20 percent profit earned by several large manufacturers is detrimental to this concern,” Andrus told the committee in 1962. [8] AARP regularly publishes Rx Price Watch Reports noting pricing trends in popular drugs for seniors. [9]

“Edit 3”

  • New request: Add paragraph that speaks to AARP’s role with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
  • Placement: Health care section under Advocacy. After new paragraphs in Edit 2

AARP pushed Congress to include drug pricing reform in the proposed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, ran ads countering drug industry claims and mobilized its 38 million members to lobby their representatives to pass the bill. The Act was signed into law in August of 2022. [10][11][12] The Inflation Reduction Act requires HHS, for the first time, to negotiate prices with drug makers for many of the most expensive drugs covered under Medicare. It also penalizes drug companies that raise prices more than the rate of inflation and sets a cap of $2,000 on annual out-of-pocket drug spending for Medicare’s more than 63 million beneficiaries beginning in 2025. [13][14] These provisions in the act could be life-changing for older Americans who rely on high-priced prescription drugs, saving some thousands of dollars a year. [15][16]

“Edit 4”

  • Original request: Add a paragraph to the end of the Health care section highlighting AARP’s significant investment in brain health research (more than $60 million).
  • Update: Added more notable sources and removed paywall source.
  • Placement: Health care section under Advocacy. After new paragraph in Edit 3.

In a 2014 study conducted by AARP, 93% of people identified maintaining brain health as a high priority as they age. [17] AARP created a brain health assessment and program called Staying Sharp [18] and it formed the Global Council on Brain Health – an independent, international group of brain health experts and researchers that publishes findings such as the impact of music on brain health. [19][20] In 2018, AARP donated $60 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund for research into the causes and treatments of Alzheimer’s Disease. [21][22]


Thank you for taking the time to review this request. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 01:33, 18 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ NA, NA (December 8, 2003). "Bush signs landmark Medicare bill into law". CNN. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  2. ^ Evans, Will (September 8, 2008). "Profile: Divided We Fail". NPR. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  3. ^ "Health-case challenges reported at AARP 'Divided We Fail' event". Duluth News Tribune. October 10, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  4. ^ Jefferson, Robin Seaton (March 13, 2019). "'Stop Rx Greed' Campaign Calls on Washington To Cut Drug Prices". Forbes. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  5. ^ Alonzo-Zaldivar, Ricardo (July 23, 2019). "GOP, Dems offer compromise to reduce drug costs for seniors". Associated Press. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  6. ^ Bunis, Dena (May 18, 2022). "AARP 'People's Hearing' Highlights Rx Struggles". AARP. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Drug Industry Antitrust Act. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1962. p. 188. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  8. ^ Hearings Before the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Eighty-Seventh Congress Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1970. p. 192. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  9. ^ Avery, Taylor (June 8, 2021). "Prescription drug prices increased twice the inflation rate of US economy in 2020, AARP report finds". USA Today. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  10. ^ Evers-Hillstrom, Karl (August 5, 2022). "AARP, Big Pharma licked in battle over drug pricing bill". The Hill. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Stainton, Lilo (August 18, 2022). "Biden inflation act to cut health costs". New Jersey Spotlight News. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  12. ^ Smith, Kelly Anne (August 23, 2022). "The Inflation Reduction Act is Now Law – Here's What it Means for You". Forbes. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  13. ^ Kimball, Spencer (August 12, 2022). "Passage of Inflation Reduction Act gives Medicare historic new powers over drug prices". CNBC. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  14. ^ Ivanova, Irina (August 16, 2022). "Inflation Reduction Act could be "game changing" for millions of U.S. seniors". CBS News. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  15. ^ Abrams, Abigail (August 12, 2022). "How the Inflation Reduction Act Could Lower Your Drug Costs". Time Magazine. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  16. ^ Cubanski, Juliette (September 22, 2022). "Explaining the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act". Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  17. ^ Fick, Donna (June 20, 2016). "Promoting cognitive health: Some good news and a brief summary of the Institute of Medicine Report Cognitive aging: Progress in understanding and opportunities for action". Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Vol. 42, No. 7. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  18. ^ "AARP Staying Sharp, an award-winning digital program with information on brain health". AARP. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  19. ^ "Keep Your Brain Young with Music". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  20. ^ Mintzer, Jacobo (October 4, 2019). "Lifestyle choices and brain health". National Library of Medicine. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  21. ^ Shieber, Jonathan (June 25, 2018). "AARP commits $60 million to a fund backing new treatments for dementia". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  22. ^ Mukherjee, Sy (June 26, 2018). "The AARP, UnitedHealth and Quest Diagnostics are pouring $75 million into fighting Alzheimer's and dementia". Fortune. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
Go ahead: I have reviewed these proposed changes and suggest that you go ahead and make the proposed changes to the page. Johannes (Talk) (Contribs) (Articles) 08:47, 30 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Johannes Maximilian: Thank you for your response. I have made the proposed changes to the article. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 21:39, 19 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

New CEO

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Myechia Minter-Jordan is AARP's new CEO as of November 2024. 2601:191:300:EA10:16B:79F0:EAB2:5608 (talk) 00:31, 20 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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