Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

Nancy Pelosi said it: “We need to pass health care reform so we can find out what’s in it.” Some people were actually excited by that prospect, like contestants on Let’s Make a Deal being asked to trade the pittance in their hand for the promise of what’s behind door #1:

AARP, either in blind faith or full complicity, bet on door #1 and their employees (not to mention almost everybody else) get to pay the price:

WASHINGTON – AARP’s endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now the seniors’ lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law.

In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.

And AARP adds that it’s changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law. Aerospace giant Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.

Prepare for AARP to now lobby the Obama administration for a waiver from the glorious health care law they helped shove down America’s throat.

Here’s a related flashback. In August of last year an AARP representative was in Dallas trying to convince dues-paying members why they should support the Democrats’ health care plan. It didn’t go well, and the skeptics were correct:

The woman conducting the seminar will now be paying more for health insurance, so there’s a bit of schadenfreude here — self-inflicted in her case.

**Written by Doug Powers

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