As Democrats enter the final stretch of efforts to enact a health reform bill, the measure picked up two crucial endorsements Friday, with the American Association of Retired Persons and the American Medical Association both offering their support.
The AARP endorsement was a welcome but perhaps not surprising development in advance of a crucial House vote Sunday to advance the Senate health care bill along with a package of technical fixes to remove some of the bill's more controversial provisions. The AARP had weighed in previously in support of earlier versions of the bill.
AARP Board Chairwoman Bonnie Cramer said that the organization's thorough analysis of the reform package showed that it would help millions of older Americans get health care while helping seniors on Medicare afford prescription medications.
"The legislative package cracks down on insurance company abuses and protects and strengthens guaranteed benefits in Medicare, the program millions of our members depend on and in which millions more will soon enroll," she said. "It also limits insurance companies' ability to charge higher premiums based solely on age. And it improves efforts to crack down on fraud and waste in Medicare, strengthening the program for today's seniors and future generations."
Cramer said the bill is the best hope to offer health security for Americans struggling with high premiums or access to insurance.
"We understand that significant work remains even after this package becomes law, but we cannot lose the opportunity looking for a 'next time' that is doomed to be 'too late,'" she added. "We urge Congress to seize this opportunity to improve health care so older Americans and their families get the care they need."
The American Medical Association was more reserved in its endorsement of the legislation, offering only its qualified support for the measure.
"The pending bill is imperfect, but we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to something as important as the health of Americans," said AMA president James Rohack, M.D.
He added, "By extending health coverage to the vast majority of the uninsured, improving competition and choice in the insurance marketplace, promoting prevention and wellness, reducing administrative burdens, and promoting clinical comparative effectiveness research, this bill will help patients and their physicians."
Rohack noted that the bill is not what the AMA would have devised if left to their own devices but noted that elements of the bill are "desperately needed" by millions of Americans.
"This is not the last step, but the next step toward real health system reform," Rohack said. "We will remain actively engaged with Congress and the administration to ensure that before Congress adjourns there are additional important changes to our health system."
He added, "Every day physicians see the devastating effect that being uninsured has on the health of our patients: They live sicker and die younger."
Rohack also pledged to work with Congress to ensure a permanent fix to the formula by which doctors are reimbursed under Medicare and Medicaid - a measure that has been enacted on a year-to-year basis - and seek adjustments to the process by which an independent panel makes adjustment recommendations to payment formulas.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.