Increasing the eligibility age from 65-67 would save $124.8 billion by 2021, according to a March report from the Congressional Budget Office. The savings would be higher, but the government would have to increase spending to assist seniors between 65 and 67 in paying for health insurance under the 2010 healthcare law.
The health reform law would allow seniors to purchase insurance through state health insurance exchanges, and the government would contribute funding to seniors whose incomes fell below 400 percent of the poverty level.
Critics say raising the age limit would be devastating to seniors if the healthcare reform law is later repealed. Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) proposed last month a plan that would raise the age of eligibility to 67 by 2025 but push the age back down to 65 automatically if the health reform law were repealed.
Read the USA Today report on raising the age of Medicare eligibility.
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