Behind the '60 Plus Association'

In my previous post I covered a speech delivered by President Obama regarding Health Care Reform. In the video he urges Americans not to be deceptive by false advocacy groups that oppose health care legislation.

"It's smoke and mirrors, It's bogus, and it's all too familiar," said Mr. Obama.

One opposition group to health care reform has been the 60 Plus Association, "A non-partisan senior advocacy group with a free enterprise, less government, less taxes approach to senior's issue." It's registered as a nonprofit with the internal revenue service.

Their TV ads include stances with accusing statements including that the, "Government decides if older patients are worth the cost."

It is apparent that this group aims its ads towards the elderly, particularly warning that government intervention into health care would take away their Medicare and health benefits.

A 2006 AARP bulletin cited that, "The pharmaceutical industry began using the 60 Plus Association as a screen for its efforts to defeat prescription drug legislation at the state level."

The article also cited that, "In its 2001 fiscal year, 60 Plus got a total of $275,000 from PhRMA, CBM and three drug companies (Merck, Pfizer and Wyeth-Ayerst) plus another $300,000 from Hanwha International Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of Korean conglomerate with chemical and pharmaceutical interests- amounts that made up about 29 percent of its revenue."

In this crucial time of the uncertainty to the direction of American health care policy, it is important for Americans to try to take in reliable sources among the overflowing information that is presented.

For more in-depth research about the 60 Plus Association, please refer to this Source Watch article that has detailed explanations and cited resources behind this advocacy group.