Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301100094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
HIGHER MEDICARE AGE URGED
An internal government report recommends raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. It would affect some 76 million people to save billions of dollars for the system now headed for bankruptcy.The report acknowledges that such a move, certain to face strong opposition from senior citizen groups, would force some people to delay retiring so they can keep their employers' health insurance.
It also admits that some people who retire early would be left without health insurance.
The rising eligibility age would be phased in over 25 years.
"Gradually changing the Medicare entitlement age to 67 would save . . . three-quarters of a trillion dollars over a 30-year period beginning in the year 2003," said the draft report by the inspector general's office at the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of Medicare and Social Security.
The report said the change was needed because of large federal deficits and "the projected insolvency of the Medicare trust fund." Revising the entitlement age would require congressional action.
The inspector general's office recommended raising the Medicare eligibility age at the same pace as the rise in the Social Security full retirement age scheduled to take effect in 10 years.
The reason is simple: Medicare is going broke. The system providing health-care coverage to 35 million people over 65 is projected to be insolvent sometime around the year 2002, caught in the squeeze of an aging population and runaway increases in the cost of medical care.
In 1991, it paid $110 billion in benefits, the fourth-largest expense in the government, ranking behind defense, Social Security and interest on the national debt.
Medicare is an insurance system financed through payroll tax.