Greg Hengler at Townhall puts together this stylized, noir-detective look at the “mystery” of AARP’s political support for ObamaCare.  Call it The Mystery of the Senior Swindle if you will, or How To Make A Billion Dollars Without Really Trying. All you need to do is get Congress to create a market for you by swinging a lobbying hammer around Washington DC, and let the Democrats do your dirty work for you:

Interestingly, the Left erupted in outrage when GE’s tax breaks became public (and inaccurately reported by the New York Times). Where’s the outrage over AARP pushing a massive government expansion over the health-care market that puts a billion dollars into their pockets? Forget it, Jake; it’s Leftytown.

The Alliance for Retirement Prosperity warned about this back in November:

Because of the way Medicare is structured, seniors have to purchase an insurance policy that fills the gap between what Medicare covers and what it doesn’t. Bigger gap, less coverage; less coverage, greater need to purchase Medicare Supplemental insurance; greater need for Medicare Supplemental Insurance, bigger AARP profits.

For years, AARP made a fortune selling Medigap insurance to fill in those gaps.  Then, Congress created Medicare Advantage, an alternative to the Medicare Supplemental Medigap policies sold by AARP.  That cut into AARP’s Medigap business.

If ObamaCare is allowed to undermine Medicare Advantage plans, as the Congressional Budget Office confirms it will, AARP stands to benefit enormously as seniors are forced to return in droves to purchase AARP’s Medigap Supplemental plans.

There you have it.  While no one can read the mind of AARP executives to know their motivations in joining forces with the White House to jam ObamaCare into law, the observable indicators are unambiguously clear:  AARP appears to have betrayed its members to feather its own corporate nest.

If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

Expect to hear more about this in the weeks ahead.