DEAR JENNIE
A MESSAGE TO YOU FROM THE AARP PRESIDENT
A: AARP will not support reform that
would deny you the freedom of choice
to keep your current plan, including
keeping your current doctor. That’s
what AARP’s fight for health care
reform is all about—creating the kind of
quality, affordable, and uniquely American health care system you want.
AARP’s policy agenda is driven by you,
our members. We developed our health
care reform priorities from nationwide
member surveys, from member focus
groups in a number of cities, and from
the thousands of letters and phone
calls we’ve received. You’ve told us what
you need and what you want in health
care reform, and that’s exactly what
we’ve been fighting for.
Those of you who like your current
plan and your doctors have told us in no
uncertain terms that you want to keep
them. Those of you ages 50 through 64
who have had trouble getting coverage
have told us that you’re tired of being
told you can’t get insurance because
of an illness you had five years ago, or
because of some other preexisting
condition, or because of your age. AARP
supports reform that ensures Americans ages 50 through 64 a real choice
of quality, affordable health care plans.
Those of you on Medicare let us
know, in overwhelming numbers, how
the Medicare Part D prescription-drug
coverage gap—the dreaded “doughnut
hole”—is hurting you. Annually, about
one-quarter of Part D enrollees fall
into the gap, paying so much more for
brand-name meds that some people
stop taking them altogether. Only 4 per-
cent make it across the gap to the other
side, when costs drop substantially.
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT AARP?
Send it to Dear Jennie, AARP, 601 E
St. N W, Washington, DC 20049, or e-mail
DearJennie@aarp.org. And check out
Jennie’s blog at shAARPsession.com.
AARP Board
PRESIDEN T Jennie Chin Hansen
PRESIDEN T-ELEC T W. Lee Hammond
BOARD CHAIR Bonnie M. Cramer
BOARD VICE-CHAIR F. John Zarlengo
SECRE TARY/ TREASURER Robert Romasco
CLASS OF 2010 Yash Aggarwal, Cora L.
Christian, Bonnie M. Cramer, Joanne
Handy, Richard Johnson, N. Joyce
Payne, Thomas “Byron” Thames
CLASS OF 2012 Leobardo Estrada,
William J. Hall, Mara Mayor, Maeona
Mendelson, Robert Romasco, George
Rowan, F. John Zarlengo
CLASS OF 2014 Gail E. Aldrich, Allen
Douma, A. James Forbes Jr., Hubert H.
Humphrey III, Jacob Lozada, J. David
Nelson, Charles E. Reed
JOSHUA ROBERTS
