Comments on: THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR RETIREE PLUNDER http://www.healthcarebs.com/2011/03/30/the-american-association-for-retiree-plunder/ Cleaning the Augean Stables of the Health Care Debate Mon, 21 May 2012 18:18:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: George Adams http://www.healthcarebs.com/2011/03/30/the-american-association-for-retiree-plunder/#comment-463983 George Adams Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:59:54 +0000 http://www.healthcarebs.com/2011/03/30/the-american-association-for-retiree-plunder/#comment-463983 When my father, John H. Adams, entered the Autumn Healthcare nursing home in Somerset, Ohio, in Janury, his insurance was involuntarily switched to AARP. My initial inquiries and protests were met with the standard "Oh, he probably either forgot signing up for it or he didn't understand what he was signing. When I found proof that the switch was made after he was no longer capable of communicating his desires, I presented that proof to a state senator who got the Ohio Department of Insurance to look into it. (I had previously contacted that department, but did not have enough clout to get them to investigate.) Now the nursing home has admitted that they "inadvertently" signed him up for AARP because they "misunderstood the new Part D rules." I have contacted various agencies trying to find out what made them think they were supposed to switch him to AARP and how they are able to do so without permission from a patient/guardian/power of attorney. No one is willing to treat the case as anything more than one person at one nursing home made one mistake on behalf of one patient. I think it is a systemic problem that recruits thousands of unknowing contributors to AARP. When my father, John H. Adams, entered the Autumn Healthcare nursing home in Somerset, Ohio, in Janury, his insurance was involuntarily switched to AARP. My initial inquiries and protests were met with the standard “Oh, he probably either forgot signing up for it or he didn’t understand what he was signing.

When I found proof that the switch was made after he was no longer capable of communicating his desires, I presented that proof to a state senator who got the Ohio Department of Insurance to look into it. (I had previously contacted that department, but did not have enough clout to get them to investigate.)

Now the nursing home has admitted that they “inadvertently” signed him up for AARP because they “misunderstood the new Part D rules.”

I have contacted various agencies trying to find out what made them think they were supposed to switch him to AARP and how they are able to do so without permission from a patient/guardian/power of attorney.

No one is willing to treat the case as anything more than one person at one nursing home made one mistake on behalf of one patient. I think it is a systemic problem that recruits thousands of unknowing contributors to AARP.

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