Obama reportedly proposes raising Medicare eligibility age to 67

(Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS)

From Sam Stein at The Huffington Post:

In his press conference on Monday morning, President Barack Obama repeatedly insisted that he was willing to tackle some sacred cows as part of a larger package to raise the debt ceiling. Just how sacred, however, may surprise political observers.

According to five separate sources with knowledge of negotiations ? including both Republicans and Democrats ? the president offered an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare, from 65 to 67, in exchange for Republican movement on increasing tax revenues.

The proposal, as discussed, would not go into effect immediately, but rather would be implemented down the road (likely in 2013). The age at which people would be eligible for Medicare benefits would be raised incrementally, not in one fell swoop.

Joe Lieberman recently proposed lifting the eligibility age to 67 as well. Paul Krugman summed it up well:

That?s a truly cruel idea; as it happens, I know several people who are hanging on, postponing needed medical care, hoping that they can make it to 65 before something terrible happens. And if I know such people in my fairly sheltered social circles, just imagine how widespread such stories must be.

But beyond that, think about what it means to move people out of Medicare into private insurance, if they can get it.

Medicare has its problems ? but all the evidence says that it is substantially more cost-effective than private insurance. Partly this is because it has lower administrative costs; partly it?s because Medicare is able to use its market power to negotiate lower prices. And the international evidence is overwhelming: single-payer systems are much cheaper than systems centered on private insurance.

So think of this as a national interest thing rather than a budget thing: Lieberman is proposing that we move a substantial number of older Americans into a worse, more expensive health care system. Why would you want to do such a thing, as opposed to raising enough additional revenue to keep them on Medicare?

Not only is this terribly policy, it's awful politics, too. Right now, we have an incredibly strong messaging advantage on Medicare, thanks to Ryan's Curse?something many Democrats realize. But the GOP won't hesitate for a second to accuse us of weakening or even wanting to destroy Medicare if we do something like reduce its availability. So not only would we risk getting killed at the ballot box, we'd be hurting countless vulnerable Americans who are desperate for Medicare coverage?and wind up making healthcare more expensive. That's a triple-whammy we simply don't need.

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