Tuesday, March 29, 2011

GOP Upping Medicare Eligibility Equals Tax On Business, Middle Class

Ricardo Alsonso-Zaldivar wrote the following for The Huffington Post:
Employers and even some younger people would pay more for health insurance if lawmakers raise the eligibility age for Medicare, a study to be released Tuesday concludes.

The findings suggest that the emerging debate over Medicare's future matters not only to seniors and those nearing retirement, but to a broad cross-section of Americans.

The report from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation shows that federal taxpayers would save billions if the Medicare eligibility age, currently 65, is increased by two years. But people ages 65 and 66, employers – along with states, Medicare recipients and even some younger families – would see ripple effects that add to their costs.

Those costs could total more than $2,000 a year for some individuals.
These figures of course assume the health care reform passed under President Obama's watch last year stays in place.  Should the GOP get their way and repeal the legislation or have it deemed unconstitutional, several more million people would be uninsured then before the reform took place.  It appears the Republican plan is a big screw you to businesses and the working class, and speaking hypothetically, should the minimum age be raised, I doubt small businesses - you know, the ones Republicans love to talk about - would be able to support the higher costs of insuring their employees, but then again, not having to pay for their health would mean bigger profits, right?

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