Last year, lawmakers in the House introduced the Improving Medicare Coverage Act in an effort to make healthcare more affordable for older Americans by lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60. That change was aimed to provide coverage for those who retire early or lack robust coverage from their employer. Today, most individuals become eligible for Medicare benefits at age 65, at which point the program covers the costs of hospital stays (Part A) and gives individuals the option to pay a premium in return for coverage of visits to doctors’ offices and other outpatient services (Part B) as well as prescription drugs (Part D). A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) examines the implications of lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60, finding that such a change would increase the number of people covered by Medicare and, as a result, increase federal deficits.

Many People Would Switch to Medicare from Other Sources of Coverage

Lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60 would make 15.6 million additional people eligible for the program, and CBO estimates that 13.6 million (87 percent) would ultimately enroll. The vast majority of those new Medicare enrollees would come from other sources of insurance, such as Medicaid and employer-sponsored coverage. A relatively small number of new enrollees — 900,000 (4 percent of individuals age 60 to 64) — would otherwise have been uninsured, but would become insured by Medicare as a result of this policy change.