New Report Shows Increasing Medicare Age To 67 Would Cost Massachusetts $298 Million A Year
Leading Senior Advocacy Groups Call on Massachusetts Senators to Oppose Increasing the Medicare Eligibility Age
Boston, MA- As concern grows over potential cuts to the safety net for America’s seniors, poor, and disabled, leading senior advocacy groups including Massachusetts Senior Action Council, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, Latinos for a Secure Retirement (LSR), Massachusetts Nurses Association, Mass Home Care and Massachusetts Association of Older Americans called on Massachusetts Senators to oppose any increase in the Medicare eligibility age, with LSR releasing a new report entitled The High Cost to Massachusetts of Raising the Medicare Age.
The report shows that raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 would cost Massachusetts $298 million in the first full year of implementation, including $160 million to individuals, $114 million to Massachusetts businesses, and $24 million to the Massachusetts State Government. Such a change would increase premiums in the healthcare exchanges for those under 65, increase the average out-of-pocket costs for those 65-66 and increase Medicare premiums for those 67 and above. Overall, such a change could cost an average Massachusetts resident nearly $7,578 in additional out-of-pocket over their lifetime.
This proposal was frequently discussed during the debt ceiling negotiations earlier this year. President Obama wisely excluded the harmful provision in the President’s September deficit reduction plan, but with the super-committee meeting behind closed doors, concerns remain that the super-committee may be considering this proposal in their debt plan. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is one of twelve super-committee members.
“Increasing the Medicare age would harm millions of Massachusetts residents. Those 65 and 66 would be most harmed, but higher costs would also be felt by those already on Medicare, employers, the state Medicaid system, and especially young people.” said Jeff Cruz. “Rising healthcare costs overall is the root of the problem. Medicare has a proven record of success in keeping costs down and we should be looking for ways to strengthen this important program.”
The report suggested a better alternative to raising the Medicare age was to create a Medicare prescription drug benefit with negotiated prices. “The country will spend close to $1.2 trillion on Medicare Part D over the next decade. If Medicare paid the same prices for drugs as the Veterans Administration the savings over this period would be close $600 billion,” said Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
In September, the ten leading Latino organizations of the LSR coalition launched a new national campaign, Medicare and Medicaid: ¡Reduciendo El Costo Del Cuidado De Salud Para Todos!, to educate the Latino community on the importance of Medicare and Medicaid. LSR will be hosting a townhall in Boston in early November.
The report is available to download at:
www.latinosforasecureretirement.org/resources/reports/highcosttomass.pdf
For more information about:
Latinos for Secure Retirement, visit www.latinosforasecureretirement.org
For more information on LSR Coalition members including:
League of United Latin American Citizens, visit www.lulac.org
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, visit www.lclaa.org
The Hispanic Federation, visit www.hispanicfederation.org
The National Hispanic Council on Aging, visit www.nhcoa.org
MANA, A National Latina Organization, visit www.hermana.org
SER- Jobs for Progress National, Inc., visit www.ser-national.org
Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, visit www.iprhe.org
American GI Forum, visit www.agifusa.org
National Association for Hispanic Elderly, visit www.anppm.org
National Hispanic Medical Association, visit www.nhmamd.org