(The following article was penned by Senator Jim DeMint)  President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Friday via satellite to a  convention sponsored by AARP. His speech will likely extol the virtues of “Obamacare,” and engage in scare tactics about conservative proposals to make  Medicare sustainable. But here are five facts you’re unlikely to hear from the  president, or AARP, about how each treats seniors:

First, while AARP poses as a disinterested senior advocate, it functions as  an insurance conglomerate, with a liberal lobbying arm on the side. AARP depends  on profits, royalties and commissions to make up more than 50 percent of its  annual revenues. Membership dues from seniors account for only about 20 percent.  The sums involved aren’t chump change: AARP’s $458 million in health insurance  revenue in 2011 would rank it as the nation’s sixth most profitable health  insurer.

Second, AARP wins when seniors lose. Because AARP receives a “royalty fee” of 4.95 percent of every premium dollar paid by seniors buying  Medigap insurance from the organization, AARP earns more profit when seniors pay  more in premiums. Even former AARP executives admitLINK that the billions of  dollars raised from these business enterprises have compromised the  organization’s mission and independence.

Third, AARP’s policy positions just happen to coincide with its financial  interests. “Obamacare,” which AARP lobbied heavily for, could yield the group  windfall profits of more than $1 billion over the next decade by forcing seniors  off Medicare Advantage plans and into Medigap supplemental coverage. Conversely,  AARP engaged in a secret lobbying campaign to block Medigap reforms last year  that by one estimate would have saved nearly 80 percent of seniors an average of  $415 per year – but cost AARP billions in profits.

Fourth, AARP knows it can protect its financial interests by aligning with  Democrats, no matter what its members think. That’s one reason why AARP endorsed “Obamacare,” though the organization’s call response logs indicate opponents  outnumbered supporters by more than 50 to 1.

Consider: One senior AARP executive wrote the White House in November 2009,  saying “we will try to keep a little space between us” on health care – because  AARP’s “polling shows we are more influential when we are seen as independent,  so we want to reinforce that positioning….The larger issue is how best to serve  the cause.”

“The cause” in this case is liberalism, the Obama agenda and “Obamacare” in  particular.

Fifth, the Obama administration has reciprocated AARP’s support by giving the  group preferential treatment. “Obamacare” exempted Medigap insurance – a market  AARP dominates – from virtually all its new mandates, including the ban on  preexisting condition discrimination. The Department of Health and Human  Services exempted Medigap plans from insurance rate review, though AARP, whose  plan is the most popular form of Medigap coverage, makes more in profit the  higher premiums rise. Though the administration has publicly attacked other  insurance companies with much smaller profit margins, it has not openly  criticized AARP’s business practices.  (continue reading)