How The AARP Profits From Seniors’ Economic Misery
By: Christopher Jacobs
May 07, 2026Senior citizens don’t deserve to get kicked in the teeth by a percentage-based ‘royalty fee’ that quite literally adds insult to injury.
As health care costs continue to rise, families of all ages and sizes continue to feel the pinch. But when seniors get squeezed, one organization in particular benefits, and it’s not one you might think.
While it claims to run a seniors’ advocacy organization, AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, actually profits from its own members’ economic misery. As premiums rise for its members, so too does AARP’s financial windfall — a perverse set of circumstances for a purported consumer group.
Medigap Premiums SpikeA recent Kaiser Health News story highlighted an underreported trend within insurance markets. In recent years, rates for Medicare supplemental insurance plans, which offset the cost of copayments and coinsurance that traditional Medicare does not cover, have risen rapidly. One analysis of first-quarter filings for these Medigap plans shows most insurers increasing rates by upwards of 10 percent and in several cases by more than 20 percent.
These premium increases leave seniors in a pinch for several reasons. First, traditional Medicare does not include a cap on out-of-pocket spending by beneficiaries. That absence makes a Medigap policy a virtual necessity, unless enrollees in traditional Medicare want to risk exposing themselves to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses should they develop a catastrophic medical condition.
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https://thefederalist.com/2026/05/07/how-the-aarp-profits-from-seniors-economic-misery/
