Are Seniors Getting Played? | Andy Mangione on American Sunrise

Senior Vice President of AMAC joins the hosts of American Sunrise to discuss the implications of the Biden-Harris administration’s recent Medicare Part D changes and what they mean for millions of seniors across the country.

Full Transcript:

DAVID BRODY: Trenton, New Jersey. I don’t have much else to say after that. Other than I hope you’re having a fantabulous day. Vicki in the chat. Hello. Good to see you. Good to see everybody in the chat. Welcome back to American sunrise. let’s talk about the all important senior vote, which will of course be crucial in the upcoming election.

joining us now. Andy Mangione. He’s the senior vice president for a Mac. Andy, always good to see you here on the show. So let’s get right to it. Kamala Harris touting Medicare Part D. He’s talking about lower prescription drug costs. So can you explain the problems? And we’re going to talk about want to start with the move by her administration, her and Biden.

Essentially funnel taxpayer money to Medicare Party plan sponsors because I’m curious about the danger here. This is timely. You’ve got Medicare open enrollment that’s coming up in just a couple weeks. And as we know, we’ve got about what 66 million Americans get their health coverage from Medicare, by the way.

Good morning. Good morning.

ANDY MANGIONE: Good morning, David. The danger is that the Biden Harris administration has pulled a fast one and is using billions of taxpayer dollars to offset the Medicare Part D premium increases caused by their Inflation Reduction Act. They don’t want seniors facing the increased premium costs for their Medicare drug benefit right before the November election.

This is a scheme, and it got the attention of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who’s concerned that this action is a potential violation. Of the hatch act, which prohibits political activity conducted in an official capacity. And Senator Paul has called for an investigation. AMAC action applauds Senator Paul’s actions and joins him in calling for an investigation into this well timed and somewhat dubious maneuver to use taxpayer funds to lower party premiums that were increased due to the Biden Harris administration’s failed policies.

DR GINA LOUDON: Andy, I want to talk with you also about the election, which by the way, it’s amazing to me that Kamala is running all these ads talking about how Donald Trump is going to ruin all of these benefits for seniors. I don’t know if you’ve seen, I’m sure you have seen those ads, because while she and Biden are in the midst of, actually doing that, as you all at AMAC are letting us know.

Anyway, we know AMAC Action is recruiting thousands of their members to serve as poll observers and election workers in key states throughout the country. I think this is an amazing campaign. I actually was informed about it yesterday through a different, completely different organization was telling me what you all are doing, which tells me how broad your roots are on this.

Tell us about this effort.

ANDY MANGIONE: Dr. Gina, we launched a concerted effort beginning last April to recruit AMAC members to get involved in November’s general election by serving as poll observers and election workers. We targeted 13 critical states like Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to activate the AMAC membership.

And we emphasize the importance of conservative scrutiny for this year’s election. And I’m pleased to report that AMAC members have responded in great numbers. Over 2, 500 of them have signed up to work the election in these crucial states with more signing up every day. This is a situation where our members make us look really good, but they are very highly engaged on this issue and are more than willing to get involved in the election.

DR GINA LOUDON: But Andy, just as a follow up, how many more do you need?

ANDY MANGIONE: we targeted the 13 states. And we have to stagger our ask, to make sure that our members can, are not overwhelmed with email. The more the merrier. We would love to have 5, 000. We were very pleased. We set a goal of 2, 000 in those 13 states and we exceeded that goal.

But the more the merrier.

TERRANCE BATES: Andy, is that part of the reason you’re telling folks, AMAC members in particular to vote early, so that they’ve got the vote out of the way and you can have them there as poll watchers or potentially recruit more poll watchers? I’m sure there’s more behind it, but as I was listening to you, I wondered if that’s also part of the reasoning.

ANDY MANGIONE: The two are tied together. Okay. We want more conservative scrutiny on the election, no doubt about it. And there’s 13 targeted states weren’t just chosen at random. They are critical swing states. There are states where there were some, shall we say, shenanigans going on in the 2020 election. But with regard to early voting, It’s important for every voter to take advantage of early voting to bank as many votes for candidates as possible.

Let’s go back to 2022 in Pennsylvania when John Fetterman had 1 million votes banked before Dr. Mehmet Oz got out of bed the morning of the election. And Oz lost the race early voting usually means less congestion at the polls and a better voting experience. But importantly, Terrence, the left has conditioned their voters to vote early.

And that action must be countered, particularly in this election.

DAVID BRODY: 100 percent Andy, we need patriots on the front lines. and also we report every day about the terrible crisis with our open borders, but is there a particular aspect of it? That’s a more a threat to AMAC members and all retirees help us through that prism here.

ANDY MANGIONE: I’m happy to David AMAC members have been consistently concerned about the flow of illegal immigration into our country. Not only are they concerned about spikes in violent crime and the overburdening of school, housing and medical resources. But they are gravely concerned about the threat to the sovereignty of their beloved United States.

They worked hard to provide for their families, to give their children more and better opportunities than they themselves had. And now they see all of this threatened for their grandchildren. They’re particularly concerned about the influx of suspected terrorists into their once safe communities. And they want Kamala Harris held accountable for her open borders policies.

DR GINA LOUDON: Yeah, and, people in the AMAC generation, they are more susceptible to not just the crime, more vulnerable to criminal behavior. when you see someone walking up and sucker punching someone on a New York street when you see these illegals doing that, it’s, almost always.

Someone that fits the AMAC demographic, right? but not only that, the, unknown illnesses, the things that have been obsolete, the illnesses that have been obsolete in our culture for a long, time are going to impact. AMAC members at a much higher rate, these illnesses are being brought over from illegals.

This is not some sort of hype. We’re seeing this in the hospitals. I know when I had my daughter in a hospital in San Diego for something, we were in complete seclusion. They had to keep my daughter completely away from everyone else because they said there are all these bizarre diseases coming across our border.

This was eight years ago. Andy, I can only imagine that’s so much worse now because it’s not just a San Diego problem or a border problem anymore. As we know, every state is a border state.

ANDY MANGIONE: It’s a national issue, and our members are acutely aware of it. They want a wall built. They’ve always wanted a wall built.

Dr. Gina, we speak to our members every week. This is not a new issue for AMAC members. They’re concerned about the sovereignty of their United States, as I mentioned before. They’re concerned for their families. They’re concerned for their communities. There’s a whole plethora of issues here, in addition to the ones that you mentioned.

They want their grandchildren to be to have a better life than their children have. That’s usually how it is. Each generation has more and better opportunities and they see that threatened by all the burdens of the resources that illegal immigration has brought to this country.

TERRANCE BATES: Andy, for people who might be interested in joining AMAC, more importantly, for people who want to be poll watchers and be there on election day to help make sure that the, elections in their communities are safe and secure, how can they join?

How can they go about that?

ANDY MANGIONE: you can join AMAC at AMAC.US/SUNRISE. Please feel free to check us out. We have many specials going on right now in terms of length of membership and how low the out of pocket expense is to join AMAC. But if you’re interested in joining or becoming a poll worker, I would direct you to the election assistance website.

EAC.gov website. You can find your state, you can find your local jurisdiction, and you can sign up online right now. It’s very easy and it’s very convenient, but we ask you to please join us. We need more members, we need to make our voice louder, and you can do that at AMAC.US/SUNRISE

DAVID BRODY: Andy, really appreciate it.

And talk about making your voice louder for sure. there were some polls recently that do show that Kamala Harris doing better with seniors than a lot of people anticipated. That is a troublesome for the Trump campaign. so all seniors, it’s an awful.

TERRANCE BATES: I don’t believe that, Sonny. I don’t believe that.

There’s no way she’s doing well with my generation. I just don’t see it, Sonny.

DAVID BRODY: Very nice imitation, by the way. That was very nicely done. All right, Andy, good to see you. Thank you.

ANDY MANGIONE: Thank you.

DR GINA LOUDON: Thanks, Andy.