Carl McDonald of Oppenheimer says that the Medicare buy-in for people age 55 to 64 is a silly idea for seniors and an unfair compromise for “liberal members of Congress who saw their government run health care plan suffer an inglorious defeat.” Notes McDonald:
Medicare generally costs between $800-1,000 per month. How many 60-year-olds do you know that have $900 lying around that they can use to pay for health care every month? Not too many I’m aware of. So it seems likely to us that there would be two groups of people that would participate in the Medicare buy-in. The wealthy, and people with severe chronic conditions….
The annual Medicare premiums would represent almost 40% of median household income of $57,265 for the age group. This calculation excludes Medicare cost sharing and assumes Medicare premiums of $900 PMPM (per member per month), or $21,600 annually. However, if the government offers a generous subsidy of $600 PMPM (60% of total cost), the plan quickly becomes more affordable as the annual premium drops to $7,200, representing 13% of household income for the median household.
McDonald sees this level of subsidy as a “non-starter.” Meanwhile, Jacob Hacker of Yale, who is most closely associated with the public plan and still strongly supports the concept, writes on The New Republic‘s web site:
I like the idea of a Medicare buy-in for uninsured Americans aged 55 to 65….This could be a simple, popular way of providing affordable coverage. It’s also one, valuably, that could be made available almost immediately, not almost a half decade from now, like the rest of the Senate bill’s big steps.
As for me, I’ll be 55 in just five years, so the idea that I can buy into Medicare with the help of a government subsidy (especially if I get really sick) is reassuring to say the least.
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