Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age

As we all know, Medicare’s long term success is grim.  Some have proposed gradually raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67, pointing out that we are living longer now than we did when Medicare began in 1966.  Opponents of this proposed solution argue that it is unfair to the poor to make Americans wait two years to get Medicare.  They also argue that it would increase the number of uninsured, and end up costing Americans more than it saves them. 

Please click here to view a life expectancy chart.  When retirement was set at age 65, the life expectacy age was less than age 65 and very few people lived to reach age 65. In fact, when social security started, the life expectancy was 61.  People were expected to work until they died and retirement was not part of a life plan.  The age should now be 78 to match “life inflation.”

See Should Medicare’s Eligibility Age Be Raised?, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 6, 2012.     

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.