Dear Editor

Senator Reid touts that the AARP supports health care reform, but why wouldn’t it since the Democrats made a deal with the AARP, plus the AARP will profit by the health care plan with all their products and services.

They are in the insurance business with your health, home owners, and auto coverage. In money matters they are vying for credit cards, mutual funds and investment information; travel services such as hotel, car rentals and vacation planning, all with discounts. One can even go online shopping, with technology help.

Some other programs include driver safety, tax aid, AARP Foundation, grandparenting, community services and volunteerism. They even have a Research Center-Public Policy Institute, Surveys and Statistics and Academic Affairs. Consumer issues include reverse mortgages, care giving, predatory lending, and preventing telemarketing calls. They can answer questions about veterans benefits, public benefits program information and even Senior Olympics. They are in too many money-making programs to do a good job in any one of them.

I have never supported the AARP for they advocate big government programs and we have enough of them.

Now this brings me to Social Security and the Medicare Prescription Drugs. AARP proclaims they want to protect these programs, but the latter is going broke and my Social Security, at age 75, in the last three years has been reduced by $100 per month due to the rising cost of Medicare.

The AARP, in my opinion, has let us seniors down. With this multitude of programs, they forgot some basics like Social Security and the drugs.

AARP is a tax-exmpt nonprofit group, but collects $650 million in royalties and other fees, receives $86 million annually in federal funds, pays its CEO $575,000 plus a benefit package, while 19 other executives receive more than $100,000 each.

The 23 board members are behind the proposed gorvernment health care program. Even some AARP executives were brought into the White House for advice. Since the CEO gave President Obama $8,900, plus I understand there was a "back-room" deal to favor the AARP, I see a bias and feel my tax dollars are being used to support something I oppose. AARP should be paying taxes and certainly not be receiving federal funds.

The health care reform, in whatever shape it takes, is moving in the direction of communism and the program as presently written is 2,000 pages of government mandates and if passed will eventually tax the very people that the AARP claims to help???

Liz Bartlett