Study: If Medicare Eligibility Rises To 70, Costs Soar For Seniors Left In Program

An idea often floated in Congress to reduce spending on Medicare by raising the eligibility age for the federal health insurance program for the elderly from 65 to 70 years old would jack up costs per person for those seniors left in the program by 12 percent, if implemented.

And that likely means out-of-pocket costs and premiums for seniors 70 and older who are still in the Medicare program would also rise.

A new study looking at the impact of aging on health care costs shows Medicare spending would certainly decline by 19 percent because millions of seniors ages 65 to 69 would be dropped from the program, according to research sponsored by the Society of Actuaries using date from the Health Care Cost Institute. Here’s a link to the entire study, “Health Care Costs from Birth to Death.”

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Source: Forbes