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Over at the NYT blog “Room for Debate”, I weigh in on whether we should let age 55-65 folks opt into Medicare:
This is instead a hail Mary pass to save the reform game on the last play, and there’s just no way they can think this through well by Christmas. … If you’d look at what they are serving before eating in the light of day, why eat when they choose to serve in the dark?
Commenting there along with six distinguished health policy wonks makes me feel almost … normal.
I Play Wonk at NYT
Good post.
The only other thing you might consider is whether, if 55-65 year olds can buy into Medicare, whether this would solve an unemployment problem, as the age group might retire earlier (before 65) since they have the certainty of medical insurance.
Sort of a cash for clunkers program. People retire early who can afford it; jobs made available for others. Maybe you could do this Medicare option as a countercyclical short term program whenever unemployment exceeds 8%.
This idea has been part of the discussion for awhile. It was part of Joe Biden's (and Bill Richardson's) health care proposals during the primaries.