The AARP is making another ad buy to encourage five GOP senators to oppose the Republican healthcare bill, which is at a critical juncture.
The ads will target Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dean Heller of Nevada, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. The ads on the radio and TV will call for them to vote against the health bill.
“Policies that impose an age tax, undermine Medicare solvency and drastically cut funding for Medicaid will have a devastating impact on millions of hard-working Americans,” the AARP said in a statement. “That’s why AARP is urging Senators to vote NO.”
Of the five senators, only Gardner and Murkowski have not publicly opposed the bill unveiled a few weeks ago. However, Murkowski has voiced severe reservations about the legislation that would roll back major parts of Obamacare.
The AARP has been a staunch opponent of the GOP’s effort to repeal Obamacare.
The senior citizen lobbying group has been fervently opposed to provisions that charge seniors higher premiums than under Obamacare. Currently, an insurer can only charge a senior three times the amount it charges a younger person, but the Senate bill would change that to five times.
The ads emphasize that people will pay more on premiums, prescriptions “and your family’s coverage could be taken away.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would lead to 22 milllion people going without insurance over the next decade. Part of the reason is due to the repeal of the individual mandate to buy insurance and major cuts to Medicaid funding.
