Medicare Panel Eyes Delayed Eligibility

A federal commission working to reform Medicare has raised the controversial possibility of requiring Americans to wait longer before the government begins to pay for their health insurance by increasing the eligibility age from 65 to 67. The bipartisan commission, appointed by Congress and the White House, is to find ways to modernize Medicare and enable it to withstand devastating financial pressures once the baby boom generation begins reaching old age in about a decade. Commission members acknowledged that postponing eligibility would help the program’s financial stability only slightly, because 65- and 66-year-olds tend to be the healthiest patients in the program.