2/11/2013 – Why the White House took the Medicare age off the table (Washington Post)

In 2011 and 2012, the White House was open to raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. They were open to this for two main reasons.

First, they figured that the Affordable Care Act would protect most of the neediest seniors and that employer coverage would protect many of the others, and so the change was, relative to the available options, fairly progressive.

Second, Washington in general, and Republicans in particular, get weirdly excited about changing retirement ages, and so changing the eligibility age gave you more political bang for your deficit-reduction buck than any similarly sized policy move.

On Monday, however, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declared that raising the Medicare age was off the table.

Read the full article at The Washington Post.