CEOs want to raise the retirement age to 70

CEOs want to raise the retirement age to 70

A lot of CEOs have gotten on the deficit-reduction bandwagon, but
they’ve often been loath to push for specific proposals, endorsing
instead an overall “framework” for fiscal consolidation that’s big and
bipartisan.

That’s now starting to change: A group of the country’s leading CEOs from the Business Roundtable has put out an entitlement reform plan that proposes to raise the eligibility age for both Social Security and Medicare to 70.

(Bradley C. Bower/NY110)

Leading Republicans have long rallied
to raise the eligibility age for Social Security to 70, but the
Business Roundtable’s recommendations for Medicare go significantly
further than the GOP consensus: During the fiscal cliff negotiations,
for instance, Boehner proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age from
65 to 67 years, while the CEOs want to push it three years higher.

The group wants a slew of other changes as well: higher premiums for
wealthy beneficiaries, chained CPI and more private competition for
Medicare and private retirement programs.







“Even though most of these modernization initiatives would be phased
in gradually, the immediate benefits would be enormous. First, they
would put Medicare and Social Security on the sound financial footing
needed to provide a sustainable retirement safety net. This would
represent a major step forward in reducing the growth of government
spending,” Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Business
Roundtable participant, wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

The Business Roundtable believes its proposals would save the
government $300 billion in Medicare spending and extend Social
Security’s solvency for 75 years. But the changes would also come with
costs to others as well. By eliminating Medicare coverage for those
between 65 and 70 years old, the plan would send more individuals into
Medicaid and the newly created health-insurance exchanges, as not
everyone would continue to work or be covered by their employers’
insurance, explains Tricia Neuman, a vice president at the Kaiser Family
Foundation.

That would drive up health-care premiums overall in the exchanges, as
there would be older, sicker people getting coverage, says Neuman. In
states that don’t elect to participate in the Medicaid expansion under
Obamacare, lower-income people in their mid- to late-60s could also
become uninsured, particularly those who are in physically demanding
jobs they might not be able to continue until they’re 70. Overall,
raising the eligibility age “would reduce federal spending but would do
so in a way that shifts costs to other payers and raises overall health
care costs,” says Neuman, who’s examined the impact of raising the age to 67.

On the flip side, proponents of the changes argue that raising the
retirement age makes sense given the rise in life expectancy, and that
sacrifices are necessary to ensure the solvency of entitlement programs.
“What has happened to Social Security over years is because people are
living much more longer, it’s moved more toward a middle-aged retirement
system,” says Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

The Business Roundtable has also tried to add provisions to address
concerns that a higher retirement age would disproportionately hurt the
poor, who tend to live shorter and work more physically taxing jobs than
wealthier Americans. The CEOs’ proposal for Social Security, for
instance, recommends that accommodations be made for “the unique needs
of individuals in physically demanding occupations” and new minimum
benefits to help lower-income workers.

But the most notable part of the CEOs’ proposal is the recommended
hike in the Medicare eligibility age to 70, which goes further than what
Republicans have been asking for. Republicans have yet to specify the
entitlement changes they actually want to happen, but on this
eligibility issue, it looks they’ll have a bunch of business executives
in their corner.


Source:-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/18/ceos-want-to-raise-the-retirement-age-to-70/