Why would AARP support Daschle Plan?
In Daschle’s wake, the healthcare industry industry vowes to move ahead. Healthcare advocates on Tuesday publicly said that the reform movement would push ahead this year and next, but privately, however, mourned the loss of former Sen. Tom Daschle who had been so closely linked to the industry many had already begun to call him Mr. Secretary. In interviews conducted yesterday, advocacy and labor groups like AARP and the Service Employees International Union—two members of Divided We Fail—said that momentum for reform has been building so long that it would continue to go forward regardless of Daschle’s presence. “Sen. Daschle’s withdrawal is a loss,” Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president, said in a written statement. “We’ve known for years that health reform would be difficult, yet necessary. (Daschle’s) withdrawal could make the process harder, but it doesn’t change the urgency of reform.” On Tuesday, Daschle officially withdrew his nomination for the nation’s top healthcare p
