The top leadership of AARP is strongly backing President Obama's health care plan, which many experts believe would be extremely devastating to seniors and their families.

Mark Tapscott reported in the Washington Examiner that AARP's CEO, A. Barry Rand, "maxed out for Obama in 2008, giving $4,600 to the president's campaign committee and $4,300 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint production of the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee."

Other big checks were sent in 2008 to Obama from AARP's general counsel, policy director, research director, health advisor, strategy consultant, and economist.

Even with that clear political orientation, AARP's support for the Democratic health care plan is astonishing.  Obama proposes to reduce health care costs through governmental controls to limit diagnostic tests and medical procedures.  He seeks to apply a cost-benefit analysis to medical care, which will deny treatment to seniors and others with limited life expectancies.

President Obama told the New York Times, "The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.There is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place."   

To pay for his health care plan, Obama proposes to cut at least $600 billion from Medicare over the next decade.

The AARP website is filled with a plethora of articles touting health care reform.  The most outrageous is one in which attempts to answer all of the many objections to Obamacare.

In answer to why AARP is supporting Obama's plan to reduce Medicare spending by $600 billion, the answer given is that this will be achieved by getting "fraud, waste, and abuse out of the system."  To his credit, the President does not even pretend that.

In reply to another question, AARP claims that the Democratic plan is not socialized medicine as the term is usually defined.  But it is incontestably government-run medicine with rationing of care.

Another question asked, "Will there be rationing of health care based on age?" to which AARP replied, "Absolutely not!"  Anyone who has read HR 3200, the House Democratic health care legislation, or even read what Obama has had to say, knows otherwise.

In the last issue of this newsletter, the mandatory end-of-life counseling for all seniors was covered.  So, a question was asked about that.  AARP said, "No. This is another myth that reform opponents are using to scare people."

But the facts are crystal clear.

Section 1233 of HR 3200, Advance Care Planning Consultation, requires all seniors to be given every five years a compulsory "explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title."

Tapscott of the Washington Examiner thinks AARP's enthusiastic support of Obamacare may kill the group.  "There will be hell to pay for AARP with its members when this ugly reality becomes crystal clear, as it most certainly will," he wrote.

Some seniors and conservative leaders agree.

Lew Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee said, "The elderly will be victimized by Obama's health care plans."

The respected Heritage Foundation warned, "The rationing will begin with, and directly affect, the elderly."

Thomas Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste said, "The Obama/Pelosi/Reid health care plan may be the single most dangerous piece of legislation I have seen in my 35 years in Washington."

Jim Martin of the 60 Plus Association stated that AARP should be called the Association Against Retired Persons and the Obama plan is "bad for seniors' health."

And James Lafferty of Christian Seniors Association said, "I am appalled that AARP is aggressively fighting to pass the most anti-senior piece of legislation in history!"