Lowering Medicare eligibility to 60 would increase federal deficit by $155B, report says

Lowering Medicare eligibility to 60 would increase the federal deficit by $155 billion between 2026 and 2031, according to a May 16 report from the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation.

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Spending on healthcare would decrease on average for people with employment-based coverage because Medicare generally has lower payment rates for medical services, according to the report. Federal costs would increase, however, because a larger share of that spending would be paid by the federal government rather than employers. 

Five things to know:

1. An estimated 7.3 million more people would be enrolled in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B as their primary source of coverage.

2. About 3.2 million fewer people would have employment-based insurance as their primary source of coverage.

3. About 1.8 million fewer people would have Medicaid as their primary source of coverage. 

4. An estimated 2 million fewer people would be enrolled in nongroup coverage.

5. About 400,000 fewer people would be without health insurance. 

Read the full report here

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