Medicare for 60-year-olds not guaranteed to be a better deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and progressive Democrats have proposed to lower Medicare’s eligibility age to 60, to help older adults get affordable coverage. But a new study finds that Medicare can be more expensive than other options, particularly for many people of modest means.

There are two reasons: Traditional Medicare has gaps in coverage that most people fill by purchasing supplemental plans, which means they pay added premiums. And premiums for the Obama-era Affordable Care Act have come way down recently due to Biden's COVID relief bill. That's made the ACA more attractive for older adults who haven't reached Medicare's eligibility age of 65.

“Simply expanding Medicare eligibility does not guarantee premium affordability,” concluded the study by Avalere Health for The Associated Press.

It found that many older adults with low to modest incomes can already find cheaper premiums in Obamacare's markets, while those in the solid middle class would be more likely to benefit if they could get into Medicare.

Lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60 is politically popular, with nearly 2 in 3 Americans backing the idea in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll late last year. That included about half of Republicans. But in Congress the proposal has little support from Republicans, meaning that it would be up to Democrats to try to advance it. Liberals are enthusiastic, but moderates worry that tinkering with Medicare's complex financing could have unintended political consequences.

The Avalere analysis did find that traditional Medicare has an important advantage over Obamacare because hospitals and doctors nationwide accept it, whereas coverage through private insurers generally relies on restrictive networks. Another potential plus: the combination of...