AARP Struggles to Bridge Boomer Generation Gap
As AARP’s biannual convention opens here today, its leadership is worried that its days as a powerhouse--representing the elderly both in the halls of Congress and on Main Street--could be thwarted by the indifference of baby boomers.
The most muscular political organization in the country, AARP boasts 34 million members, mostly retirees. On issues from Social Security to prescription drug benefits, its views shape the national debate. And in each of the next 15 years, another 3 million Americans will reach age 50--and get an invitation in the mail to join.
But as executive director Horace Deets likes to remind his staff, “Size didn’t save the dinosaurs.”
So now the organization plans to unveil a campaign to capture the loyalty of a generation of boomers with promotions that appeal not just to 75-year-old retirees, but to their still-working children.
Not merely cruise discounts, but a new telephone hotline to put members in touch with experts who can help find a nursing home for a parent who just suffered a stroke, or furnish a list of college scholarships for a high school senior.
Not just auto rental coupons, but big savings on eye exams and glasses, perhaps even laser surgery.
Not just motel promotions, but cut-rate subscriptions to AOL and savings on financial software programs and magazines.
The sheer number of boomers--the 76 million Americans born from 1946 through 1964, the biggest generation in American history--would ensure a prosperous future for AARP. But only if it can get them to stick around as members.
The boomers are coming to an age that once marked the beginning of the march to a leisurely retirement. But retirement is not an immediate priority to the generation that coined the phrase: “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”
With an eye toward wooing those reluctant boomers, the American Assn. of Retired Persons two years ago even went so far as to drop its name and become, simply, AARP.
Signing up the boomers is easy, but renewals are tough. AARP enrolls 2.7 million people a year, but it also loses 2 million who fail to re-up. (About 200,000 of those have died.)
“We’ve got all these people pouring in the top and coming out the bottom,” said William D. Novelli, AARP’s associate executive director of public affairs. “We’ve got this leaky bucket and we’ve got to put some stoppers in it.”
AARP isn’t alone in seeking the magic formula to command the loyalty of boomers, who loom as a rich consumer market. Businesses big and small are anxious to tap the niche, and the AARP has been flooded with proposals for joint ventures.
In the last three months alone, Deets has viewed a dozen presentations of Internet projects. On a recent visit to New York, he spoke with artist Peter Max and visited Tim Zagat, a publisher of restaurant guides, to talk about possible deals to reach out to the 40- and 50-something consumers.
On the political front, AARP is pushing hard for creation of a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, and will be sending members out on campaign buses this summer into congressional districts to keep pressure on wavering lawmakers.
AARP polls show the strongest support for the proposed new benefit comes from people in their 50s, who are too young for Medicare--eligibility starts at 65--but are already worrying about the high cost of care as they come closer to retirement.
To raise its profile even higher among boomer voters and elected officials, the organization is opening an office with a full-time staff and lobbyist in every state. The 20 biggest states already had their own AARP operations, but the rest were handled by regional offices. Now, AARP wants to get closer to the decision-makers in state capitals.
“You have to be part of the community,” Deets said. “It’s much more relevant than simply being in a big building in Washington.”
AARP’s clout in the capital already makes it one of the most powerful and effective lobbies in national politics.
“If you get a negative reaction from them, you better think twice about going forward,” said Bob Blancato, a consultant on aging issues who ran the White House Conference on Aging in 1995.
In recent years, with the Republicans in control of Congress and the nation in a more conservative mood, AARP still has been able to block efforts to cut back on the annual cost-of-living increase granted to Social Security recipients, and to slow the enthusiasm in Congress for diverting some Social Security revenues into private accounts.
All these high-profile efforts, Deets says, are vital to strengthening the AARP brand name.
But, he added, “We have a lot of stuff we’re doing that we don’t get credit for.” Every year, for example, AARP prepares tax returns for free for thousands of people. And its fraud-buster program operates a “reverse boiler room” in Santa Monica. Using “sucker” lists captured from people arrested for telemarketing fraud, AARP volunteers call prospective victims and warn them to be alert for scams coming over the telephone. And AARP’s staff of lawyers is busy working on age discrimination cases.
The marketplace is very different than in 1958, when Ethel Percy Andrus, the first woman to become a school principal in California, created AARP as a group to get health insurance for retired teachers. No company back then wanted to sell health policies at reasonable prices to older people. Today, there is Medicare, and plenty of vendors to compete with AARP to sell supplemental health insurance to fill the gaps in Medicare’s coverage.
Low dues ($5 annually for many years before going to $8 in 1995), the supplemental Medi-gap policies, and the popular member discounts for car rentals and hotels drew in millions of members in the 1980s. Annual dues will rise to $10 next month and will test whether boomers and other younger members will be willing to renew at a higher price.
And if boomers won’t be wooed?
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first grant 40 years of business success,” Deets said, quoting management guru Peter Drucker. “I don’t want the organization to die on my watch.”
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