Will Medicare age increase to avoid falling off a cliff at the expense of the elderly?

Medicare age increases, will the elderly be sacrificed to avoid falling off a cliff? (Alberta Times) Americans are living longer, and Republicans are trying to avoid the fiscal cliff...

Raise the Medicare age to avoid falling off the cliff and sacrifice the elderly? (Alberta Times) Americans are living longer. In budget negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff, Republicans want to raise the Medicare eligibility age to reduce the government's huge deficit. However, this sacrifice, which sounds sensible, may lead to unintended consequences such as higher premiums for Medicare beneficiaries in the aging society of the United States. It is opposed by the American Association for the Elderly (AARP), an organization that advocates for the elderly. Unlike tax increases, which cause intense partisan controversy, raising the Medicare eligibility age from the current 65 to 67 would help the White House and Republicans reach a compromise because President Obama has previously expressed a willingness to consider this idea, and Republicans have made this idea their top recommendation. A worried AARP has begun advertising heavily against this idea as a quick fix to the deficit, which will cause long-term problems. Raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 can reduce expenditures by 5% each year, and the compound savings over the years will reach hundreds of billions. However, Tricia Newman, a Medicare expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that this idea is simple to say, but the consequences are serious. The foundation's research found that its consequences include: ●The monthly insurance premiums for seniors with Medicare will increase. Since the healthier 65 and 66-year-olds are excluded from the policy holders, the premiums for other people will increase. When the age increase is fully implemented, the premiums will increase by 3%. ●Private health insurance premiums are expensive. According to the health reform law, the elderly must participate in private health insurance for two more years before they can enjoy Medicare. Compared with young people, the cost of their health insurance will be higher, and the premiums will be expensive. ● Increased costs for employers as older employees will try to stay on company health insurance plans. ●Among those who defer their Medicare coverage, two-thirds will see their medical out-of-pocket payments increase. The life span of Americans has been extended by eight years since the creation of Medicare in 1965. In the 1980s, President Reagan and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to gradually raise the age for receiving full social security benefits from 65 to 67, but did not touch Medicare. Later, many experts advocated synchronizing the Medicare eligibility age with Social Security. After the Republicans won the House of Representatives in 2010, this idea was supported by Republican leaders. President Obama expressed an openness to this idea when negotiating the budget with the Republicans in 2011, but he quickly reneged and said that he would not consider it unless the Republicans agreed to increase taxes on the rich.