CIO — It’s 2:30 p.m., 48 hours after AARP endorsed the controversial Medicare prescription drug bill, and more than 2,000 calls have ripped through its call center in Plantation, Fla. The callers, like the gaggle of protesters who tore up their membership cards outside AARP’s downtown Washington headquarters earlier in the day, are furious at the nonprofit organization for supporting the bill, which they believe will benefit not seniors, but drug and insurance companies.
CIO John Sullivan has tried to prepare for the onslaught. His IT staff and AARP’s call center contractor have added 30 to 40 people to ensure that the phones are answered and that callers are able to register their opinions. For Sullivan, the fact that so many AARP members get through is living proof that his IT strategy is succeeding. His goal, like that of many CIOs, is to be flexible and to respond quickly to changing business conditions?whether it’s demand for a new product or a surge in complaints.
But even the most prescient IT strategy can’t anticipate every problem. AARP executives decided to deal with the flood of angry calls made directly to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., by telling switchboard operators not to connect those calls. Eventually, the blackout is lifted, but by mid-January, an estimated 45,000 of AARP’s 35 million members had quit, and AARP is deep into damage control.
What members seem most incensed about is the notion that AARP gave its imprimatur to the Medicare legislation, which Congress passed in late November, because there’s money in it for the organization. It’s true that the bulk of AARP’s revenue comes from selling or distributing third-party products and services, including insurance policies. But AARP executives say they endorsed the bill because it was important to achieve some sort of prescription drug benefit for seniors. They also say they conducted numerous focus groups and membership surveys before making that endorsement, and they repeat, almost like a mantra, that whatever profits they make are reinvested to provide services to members. All of this, they note, benefits seniors in the long run.
The question is, which seniors? According to health policy analysts, current Medicare recipients who have their own prescription drug coverage and affluent retirees are among those least likely to benefit from the new legislation. This active and vocal group is part of AARP’s core constituency?60 percent of its members are aged 65 and older?and they have provided AARP with much of its political power. But AARP also has its eye on an emerging constituency even more powerful due to its sheer numbers?the 76 million baby boomers who are easing into middle age and will begin their retirements during the next decade. According to some surveys, this group expects to be healthier than their parents and is more amenable to the idea that the government cede control of some Medicare services to private companies. They also have nothing immediately to lose, notes Grant Reeher, a health-care expert and associate professor of political science at Syracuse University.
