I think that one of the reasons that Obama took raising the Medicare eligibility age off the table is this report, which gives us this little picture:

For the non chart pr0n inclined, the first thing that you notice is that it costs society twice as much to move these folks off the Medicare rolls.

The next thing to notice is that almost almost half of that cost is born by people who are under 65, who, because of community rating, will have to cover much of the increased expenses.

And then there is the huge hit on 65-66 year olds and their employers.

What isn’t listed here is the loss in market power that would result, with an associated increase in costs.

It’s bad policy, it’s bad politics, and thankfully Obama realizes this ……… For a while, at least.