CBO cuts Medicare change savings estimate

Raising the normal Medicare eligibility age to 67, from 65, might not increase the number of uninsured people very much but might not save much money, either.

Paul Jacobs and other analysts at the Congressional Budget Office, a congressional think tank, give that assessment in a new budget effects estimate.

In January 2012, CBO analysts estimated increasing the Medicare eligibility age two years would reduce growth in the federal budget deficit by $113 billion over 10 years, or an average of about $11 billion per year.

The analysts have now cut the estimated effect to about $19 billion over 10 years, or $1.9 billion per year.

Many people who retire around age 65 and their dependents have some kind of employer-sponsored coverage, and they now should have an easier time getting individual coverage, because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will require carriers to sell coverage on a guaranteed-issue basis starting in 2014, the analysts said.