National Coordinator/Health Issues, AARP Office of Federal Affairs


Association

Kirsten Sloan

health plans (AHPs) are not a good way to try to expand health coverage, Kirsten Sloan, National Coordinator for Health Issues in AARP's Office of Federal Affairs, said.

AHPs, which tend to be strongly supported by Republicans, bring small businesses together into purchasing pools in order to increase their leverage with insurance companies. While this is relatively non-controversial, many AHP proposals include provisions to which AARP and others object.

Sloan, for example, said that AHPs would lead to discrimination against older workers, because a business with an older staff would have to pay higher premiums. In addition, she said, AHPs would be exempted from state benefit mandates and would provide "significantly less generous benefits" than other coverage plans.

AARP, Sloan said, did not arrive at its opposition to AHPs easily, since one of the organization's primary interests is expanding health coverage. In the end, though, "Our concern was what we're really doing [with AHPs] is not really raising the bar but lowering the bar significantly."