Chairman: “Unlike AARP, 60 Plus will listen to seniors”

(Alexandria, Virginia) – The 60 Plus Association, the leading conservative seniors organization with over 7.2 million supporters, is launching its “Healthcare Freedom” bus tour today in Florida, Chairman Jim Martin’s adopted home state, then visits Virginia, his current residence.  The tour then motors on to Ohio to discuss with seniors their concerns over the so-called Affordable Care Act, which 60 Plus labels the Unaffordable Care Act, based on costs that are soaring into trillions over the Obama Administration’s estimates.

Legendary entertainer and 60 Plus National Spokesman Pat Boone plans to attend several events in Florida, which happens to be his native state.  Boone, now 78, was born in Jacksonville and currently resides in Beverly Hills with his wife of 57 years, Shirley.  The bus tour will also recruit AARP members who are upset with the organization’s support of the bill which cuts Medicare, cripples Medicare Advantage, and remains unpopular with seniors.

60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, a former Florida newspaperman, emphasized, “We believe Congress, controlled in 2010 by Democrats, aided and abetted by the AARP, did an injustice to seniors by ramming an unread 2,700 page health care overhaul down our throats, ending Medicare as we know it by slashing a half trillion dollars from the program that seniors have paid into all of their lives, resulting in seniors voting in record numbers in the 2010 elections, defeating dozens of Democrats who supported the bill.”

The bus tour kicks off today in Sarasota, and concludes the Florida portion June 23 in Port St. Lucie. It then travels to Virginia with stops in Richmond, Arlington and Virginia Beach June 25-26 before ending with events June 27-28 in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio.

“A majority of seniors are still vehemently opposed to this ‘bad medicine.’  It’s clear AARP did a disservice to its members two years ago and continues to do a disservice to them today by continuing to promote this Medicare-killing legislation. Now faced with a backlash, AARP announced it is on a ‘listening tour.’ They should have listened two years ago.”

60 Plus was founded by Martin 20 years ago and has some 7.2 million.  Unlike the AARP, which has received hundreds of millions of tax dollars, 60 Plus accepts only voluntary donations from over a quarter-million donors.

The 60 Plus bus has a replica of its own AARP bumper sticker reproduced in giant letters on the outside of the bus, ‘AARP: Association Against Retired Persons.’  The side panels read: ‘Healthcare Freedom Tour; Bringing Generations Together.’

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