How would lowering the Medicare age save the system money?

[democrattotheend]

22. The argument about Medicare's administrative costs is kind of misleading

Because it doesn't take into account some of the administrative functions of Medicare that are performed by other parts of the government. For example, the IRS collects the taxes that fund Medicare, whereas private insurance has to hire people to process premium payments. The administrative expenses for Medicare don't include expenses of other parts of the government that help administer it. Also, private insurance is subject to state excise taxes, which is counted as an administrative expense.

Besides, even if Medicare does have lower administrative expenses, it's still not necessarily the best option for everyone. Healthier people might rationally choose a plan that has a lower premium than the unsubsidized Medicare premium with a higher deductible. Medicare at age 55 might also not be the best choice for very poor individuals either, since the out of pocket costs are higher than Medicaid or even some HMO's. Medicare provides a better choice of doctors than either Medicaid or a cheap HMO but it may not be affordable for everyone.

Also, I have read some arguments that Medicare's pay structure is inefficient and rewards waste by paying doctors per service rather than based on overall health outcomes. I think there is some merit to that, although I would be wary of going too far in the other direction (I think the early HMO's went too far in rewarding doctors for doing too little).