Humphrey To Tackle Drug Costs As President Of AARP Minnesota Former Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey said the high price of prescription drugs will be a top priority as he takes over as president of AARP Minnesota, a 645,000-member senior advocacy group.  Humphrey was chosen for the position, which is unpaid, from among seven candidates by a five-person committee that included AARP officials from Minnesota and several other states, a process used to choose AARP presidents in every state.  He succeeds John Hagman, who was president for the past six years, the maximum allowed under AARP rules.  "Skip will be an excellent bridge to help policymakers and others work together in a nonpartisan way to make Minnesota a better place for people of all generations," said Michele Kimball, the state AARP executive director.  Humphrey, 61, of Golden Valley, will be the group's chief spokesman, will testify at the Legislature and will chair AARP's executive committee, which sets policy for the state group.  The group represents about half of Minnesotans 50 and older who are eligible to join. Humphrey has been a member for about a decade.  He said on Thursday the high cost of drugs will be a primary issue that the AARP will bring to the Minnesota Legislature when it convenes next month.  "We want to support Governor Pawlenty and his initiative to help open up the doors to lower-cost prescriptions from Canada," he said. "But there's more we think we should be doing."  Humphrey will unveil an AARP drug proposal this month, he and other officials said.  In 1998, Humphrey lost to Jesse Ventura in a three-way race for governor. He had served as attorney general since 1983, and in the state Senate for 10 years before that.  After the election, he taught at Harvard University for a semester, then returned to Minnesota to join the Tunheim Partners public relations firm, where he works three days a week, primarily advising clients on health-care policy issues.  One day a week he also works at the University of Minnesota's Epidemiology Department, where he is a senior fellow teaching a graduate course in health policy issues.  "There are a lot of policy issues that AARP will be working on in health care, nursing homes, support programs, consumer protection and other areas," Humphrey said.  "But perhaps the biggest impact we can have is finding new ways to encourage our citizens to be active in the civic life of our state -- helping in schools, churches, civic organizations, even elective politics," he said. This story originally came from The Associated Press ... Return to the Media Section

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