Raising Medicare eligibility age may spur $1B in costs

Raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 years may epitomize the phrase penny wise and pound foolish, according to a National Public Radio feature. That’s because the switch would raise the average age of Medicare beneficiaries and take the healthiest elderly out of the pool, while also burdening health insurance exchanges with an onslaught of relatively less healthy 65 and 66 year olds. Although the approach would drop Medicare spending 5 percent annually; states, individuals and employers would incur $1billion in costs in 2014.