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Aarp members burn cards Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/11/19/rtr1154283.html http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/11/19/rtr1154283.html Angry and wet, AARP members try to burn cards Reuters, 11.19.03, 6:26 PM ET By Joanne Kenen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the AARP, the influential lobbying group for the elderly, tried in vain to burn their membership cards Wednesday to protest against the group's endorsement of the Republican Medicare bill. A few dozen people in their 50s and 60s gathered in the rain outside the AARP's headquarters in downtown Washington and tried to burn their cards, but cut them up instead when the plastic coating would not catch fire. "I'm a healthy senior representing a lot of unhealthy seniors," said Genevieve Cervera, 64, part of the group bused in from several northeastern states for the protest, with its draft-card burning echo of the Vietnam era. Opponents of the legislation say its drug benefit is too skimpy and its market-oriented reforms will damage Medicare. The AARP has opened a national advertising campaign in support of the bill. Its leaders acknowledge it is not a perfect bill but say it is a start and they hope to improve it in coming years. Democratic lawmakers continued their rhetorical pounding of the AARP, a 35-million-member organization that has often sided with the Democrats and whose endorsement has now put them in a political bind. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California at a rally accused the AARP of being in the "pocket" of the Republican leadership. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, demanded that the organization "come clean" if it has a financial stake in the legislation. A few Democratic lawmakers, while not joining the rain-soaked seniors' protest, said they were also resigning from the AARP. "I destroyed my card," said Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat. "I cannot in good conscience continue as a member of an organization that ignores the will and best interest of its own membership," Rep. Lois Capps, a California Democrat and former school nurse, wrote in a letter resigning from the group. Other seniors groups, smaller and less influential than the AARP, have banded together with some consumer and labor groups to try to build opposition to the bill. "We don't get a lot of unsolicited calls and emails, but we're getting them now from people who want to join," said Rich Fiesta, an official with the Alliance of Retired Americans, whose members delivered lemons to lawmakers Wednesday in a symbolic repudiation of the bill. A poll commissioned for the AFL-CIO, which opposes the Medicare bill, found that only 19 percent of registered voters at 55 and above supported the Medicare bill. For AARP members, who represented 57 of the poll's 604 respondents, the figure was slightly lower, 18 percent. Senior AARP officials acknowledged that the organization was getting calls and protests, but they said that the first wave of reaction is often from the people who are mad. "There's an uptick in normal volume of calls," David Certner, a senior AARP official, said. (Additional reporting by Cyrill Cartier) Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

6 democratic candidates attack medicare measure { November 19 2003 } Aarp members burn cards Aarp spends 7m ad campaign supporting gop bill { November 19 2003 } Candidates take on aarp over drug bill Congressman bribed to pass medicare { November 27 2003 } Democrats threaten sue over medicare cost estimates Drug makers protect their turf { November 21 2003 } Drug plan faces enrollment challenge Drug prices for elderly climb 50 percent { July 1 2004 } FDA and states at odds over drugs { February 22 2004 } House probe medciare bribery allegation Medicare administrator withheld cost estimates for congress { September 8 2004 } Medicare costs kept secret Medicare drug benefit will cost more than reported { February 9 2005 } Medicare drug bill could be tough sell { November 17 2003 } Medicare drug cards produce confusion { July 29 2004 } Medicare drug cost estimate increases { January 30 2004 } Medicare reform bill is a disaser { November 28 2003 } Medicare secrecy inquiry is silenced { April 2 2004 } Medicare wont cover cancer drug costs { September 8 2004 } Medicares hidden bonanza { March 4 2004 } New drug benefits too complicated for seniors Nine dems back medicare bill Offered money to change vote { December 8 2003 } Some experts foresee revolt by elderly { November 26 2003 } Top democrats want us house probe on medicare vote US offers senior drug cards amid criticism { May 3 2004 } Files Listed: 27

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