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.
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.