A New Plan To Rescue The ACA: Medicare-At-55

On October 12, 2017, the Trump Administration announced that it would end subsidies that reduce out-of-pocket payments for low-income individuals. This action might drive insurers out of the exchanges and might encourage younger people to drop their individual insurance plans — thereby destabilizing the individual insurance market. Extending Medicare to the 55-64 age group—who have relatively high health care costs—is a potential fix that could insure the near-elderly and provide stability to the marketplaces. It would remove expensive individuals and families from coverage by private insurance companies, who could in turn reduce premiums for individuals and families below the age of 55. Under this proposal, Medicare-at-55 would be universal for people in the 55-64 age group and they would leave their current private insurance. It would require an increase in the Medicare payroll tax contribution which has not increased proportionately to increases in Medicare spending; other countries sustain their health insurance programs by gradually increasing their payroll tax contributions. To make this plan fiscally sustainable, the United States would need to do the same. The Problem With Making Medicare-At-55 Optional Medicare-at-55 is quite different from proposals suggested by Democrats in 2009 and 2017, which allowed people aged 55-64 to voluntarily buy into Medicare as an alternative to private insurance. The problem with the idea of Medicare buy-in is that r...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Following the ACA Medicare individual insurance market Medicare-At-55 Source Type: blogs