If the Medicare eligibility age were raised by two months every year — from 2014 until it reached 67 in 2027 — federal Medicare expenditures would be reduced by $148 billion from 2012 through 2021, according to a brief from the Congressional Budget Office (pdf).
This estimate exceeds the CBO's March 2011 figure of $125 billion over the same timeframe. The CBO's current estimate does not include the effect of changes in people's decisions regarding work and retirement.
If the MEA were raised, the CBO also expects Medicare's net spending would be about 4.7 percent of the gross domestic product rather than 5 percent under the current Medicare law, according to the brief.
An increase in the MEA would also encourage some people to work longer in order to retain employer-based health insurance, but the CBO expects that number would be small overall since health insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion would be live under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by 2014.
This estimate exceeds the CBO's March 2011 figure of $125 billion over the same timeframe. The CBO's current estimate does not include the effect of changes in people's decisions regarding work and retirement.
If the MEA were raised, the CBO also expects Medicare's net spending would be about 4.7 percent of the gross domestic product rather than 5 percent under the current Medicare law, according to the brief.
An increase in the MEA would also encourage some people to work longer in order to retain employer-based health insurance, but the CBO expects that number would be small overall since health insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion would be live under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by 2014.
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Raising Medicare Eligibility Age to 67 Could Save $125B by 2021
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