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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (128595)	12/8/2012 9:45:57 AM
From: Alighieri	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 149317

Had you seen this study...? Not very recent but not discussed in the press very much. kff.org Al ============================================================= Raising the Age of Medicare Eligibility: A Fresh Look Following Implementation of Health Reform Several major deficit-reduction and entitlement reform proposals include raising Medicare's age of eligibility from 65 to 67 as a way of improving Medicare's solvency. This Kaiser Family Foundation report estimates the expected effects on such a change on the federal budget, as well as on affected seniors' out-of-pocket costs, employers, Medicaid and others in light of the major changes in coverage enacted under the 2010 health reform law. The study estimates that raising Medicare’s eligibility to 67 in 2014 would generate an estimated $5.7 billion in net savings to the federal government, but also result in an estimated net increase of $3.7 billion in out-of-pocket costs for 65- and 66-year-olds, and $4.5 billion in employer retiree health-care costs. In addition, the study projects that the change would raise premiums by about 3 percent both for those who remain on Medicare and for those who obtain coverage through health reform's new insurance exchanges. The study assumes both full implementation of the health reform law and the higher eligibility age in 2014 in order to estimate the full effect of both the law and the policy proposal. In the absence of the health reform law, raising Medicare's age of eligibility would result in an increase in the uninsured, according to other studies, as many older Americans would have difficulty finding affordable coverage in the individual market in the absence of Medicare. With health reform, virtually all 65- and 66-year-olds would be expected to obtain alternative sources of coverage. The study is authored by researchers from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Actuarial Research Corporation and is available online. It is the first in a new series of Kaiser Family Foundation studies examining the effects of proposed Medicare changes on the program’s beneficiaries, the federal budget and other stakeholders. NOTE: Originally released in March 2011, this report and news release were updated in July 2011 to reflect additional provisions of the 2010 health reform law. These adjustments result in lower estimates of net federal savings and aggregate out of pocket spending attributable to raising the age of eligibility.

To: Road Walker who wrote (128595)	12/8/2012 10:16:07 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

You retiring or looking for something else?

To: Road Walker who wrote (128595)	12/8/2012 2:13:19 PM
From: tejek	1 Recommendation Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 149317

Its also probably why the recovery and economic expansion has not been all that strong throughout the aught years. Lots of people are retiring and reducing their expenditures. Including me in a few weeks. Unless they replace me with 2 people the labor force shrinks. About yesterday's employment report, the surprise was that employment growth was as strong as it was. It suggests the rising consumer confidence reports are based more on reality than many thought. If the fiscal cliff is avoided which is looking less and less likely, then we might see some acceleration of growth.