News, AARP rakes in cash from seniors’ insurance. (55, supplement, years)

[John1960]

Seniors may think they save money when they buy AARP insurance, but if they take the trouble to compare competing products, they may be paying twice as much.

AARP brought in nearly half a billion dollars in 2007 from fees insurers pay for AARP endorsement. It also gained about $40 million from holding the clients’ premiums for a month and investing them.

AARP rakes in cash from seniors’ insurance « AAPS News of the Day

[MN2CO]

I'm beginning to wonder about AARP - I have their road service and recently called for a jump start (MN -24). When I called I reached India - that's right. This just seems to contradict what they claim they stand for.

[knoxgarden]

This is what I've been trying to tell people. See thread on this forum: Is AARP worth joining.
I was in a Medicare Advantage program that I really liked. It was bought out by Secure Horizons which then joined with AARP. When that happened, costs to me went up dramatically and what they covered dropped. I shopped for a new plan and found one that covers a lot more for half the price.
I tried AARP for auto insurance. Would have cost me $400 a year more than what I get through a local insurance broker.
AARP used to be about advocacy. Now it's about marketing and making money. They sell their mailing list to everyone. I'm tired of all the junk mail I get because I was a member two years ago.

[carmac]

Originally Posted by knoxgarden

This is what I've been trying to tell people. See thread on this forum: Is AARP worth joining.
I was in a Medicare Advantage program that I really liked. It was bought out by Secure Horizons which then joined with AARP. When that happened, costs to me went up dramatically and what they covered dropped. I shopped for a new plan and found one that covers a lot more for half the price.
I tried AARP for auto insurance. Would have cost me $400 a year more than what I get through a local insurance broker.
AARP used to be about advocacy. Now it's about marketing and making money. They sell their mailing list to everyone. I'm tired of all the junk mail I get because I was a member two years ago.

Thanks for the eye-opener knoxgarden!

[GloryB]

The AARP, along with many other such agencies, have long outlived their useful status. I'm glad Americans are finally waking up and realizing most of these groups are nothing but money grubbers with political agendas.

[Jammie]

Ditto to what was already said. AARP is NOT a program that is looking out for Seniors. AARP looks out for AARP.

Another case in point~remember how they urged seniors to vote for Obama for Prez because his administration will bring about national healthcare? It's supposed to close the gap for people aged 55 to 64. (I am only making a point~not discussing the actual candidates, please)

SO, he is now our future Prez, which is fine with me. But AARP is now pushing for the Administration's first actions to be the expansion of the Schipp's (spelling?) program to include more children 19 years of age and younger. The plan they are advocating will allow anyone with a child who is under 19 to be eligible for this program. The maximum income is 82,000 per year. Now a couple raising one child who makes 82,000 a year should be capable of providing insurance for that child.

SO, Seniors will come second with AARP. This is what they are advocating~That anyone between the ages of 55 and 64 be allowed to buy into Medicare. BUT there will be no govt. subsidy for those people and their monthly premium will be $800 per month. Add on the supplemental insurance you will need, and that's a pretty high price.

They're a very powerful group, but unfortunately they don't have our best interests in mind.

[Frank1938]

AARP has always been suspect to me, so I am not greatly surprised at this. I did join for a couple of years back in the early 90s but dropped it as I could not see where it was a benefit to me
Good pot

[Retired Law 08]

thanks for the warning..I had just briefly read a couple of things about them..
the life insurance is no bargain...whats the real advantage of joining...
just to say you belong...

[Jammie]

Well, supposedly you get all these senior discounts with your AARP card. I could count on one finger () the amount of discounts we've actually gotten by having the card. We got a 10% discount at a casino/hotel with the card.
The bad thing is, our three years were recently up again and we renewed. We get the two monthly mags, but they forgot to send us new cards with the new expiration date so alas, it did us no good to renew.

I do kind of enjoy browsing through their magazines because there is some good reading in them once you get past the advertisements. This will probably be our last renewal with them though.

[knoxgarden]

You will keep getting the magazine. My subscription expired a year ago and I still get the magazine. Along with the rest of the mailings. The discounts might have been worth it years ago but now with the internet it's easy to beat the discounts by a lot.