A Republican proposal to raise the eligibility age for Medicare may save the federal government more than $100 billion while increasing health-care costs to senior citizens, states and employers.
People age 65 and older could pay an extra $2,000 for health insurance if they’re excluded from Medicare, the federal health-care program for the elderly, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Other government and private health plans would see costs rise as would-be Medicare recipients seek care elsewhere.
The proposal, which President Barack Obama in a Bloomberg interview signaled a willingness to consider in talks over a deficit-reduction deal, would fail to address Medicare’s more- pressing fiscal issues. These include the high cost of providing end-of-life care, said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions in Washington.
Raising the eligibility age is “math that works very well for reducing the federal outlay for Medicare,” Keckley said. “It doesn’t mean costs will go away. It’ll be someone else’s problem.”
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, proposed the increase as part of a potential accord to stave off more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts slated to begin next month. Obama said in the Dec. 4 interview with Bloomberg Television that while he has his own ideas on reducing entitlement spending, “I’m happy to entertain other ideas Republicans may present.”
Obama’s Law
The Boehner proposal is only viable because the elderly have alternative sources of insurance under Obama’s 2010 health-care overhaul, said economist Paul Van de Water of the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.
“It’s clear no Democrat would be even willing to think about this idea without health reform,” Van de Water said.
Medicare’s eligibility age -- 65 -- hasn’t been increased since the program began in 1966. That’s fueled complaints that it hasn’t kept pace with increases in longevity. People turning 65 in 1940 could expect to live another 14 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They can expect an additional 20 years today.
“We’re living longer, right?” said Representative Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican. “We haven’t updated the law to reflect that.”