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Will Medicare Eligibility Be Raised to Age 67?

There has been a lot of talk in Congress about raising the eligibility age on Medicare to age 67 to save costs. This has been talked about for years, but it faces a lot of opposition in Congress. According to the article “Raising Medicare Age Would Save $148 Billion, CBO Says” by Meghan McCarthy and Katy O’Donnell on National Journal, the Congressional Budget Office recently lowered how much the government would actually save.

Previously, the CBO stated there would be a savings of $162 billion, but this did not factor in the premiums lost from seniors paying into the program. A CBO official stated that a senator requested the new analysis of increasing the Medicare and Social Security eligibility ages to clarify savings. Many think that these savings are not significant enough to warrant changing the age. The savings may not affect the deficit, but it could create funds to create the “doc fix”, which is a permanent solution for a temporary pay raise Congress would legislate for Medicare doctors on a yearly basis.

The CBO estimates that raising the Medicare age could drop federal Medicare outlays, net of premiums, and other offsetting expenses by $148 billion from 2012 through 2021. The agency put out a very detailed report outlining how this will be accomplished. President Obama supports increasing the age, but faces a lot of opposition from other Congressional members. It’s definitely not all bad news for seniors who may miss out on some Medicare benefits. People from 65-67 who have to find private health insurance could find that they have better access to doctors than they may under Medicare. Time will tell as usual.

Written by Sam Tabes

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