This post got buried beneath new ones a bit too quickly; excuse the re-post:
Before Obama's "grand bargain" with Boehner imploded, many progressives were appalled to learn that Obama had put (gradually) raising the Medicare retirement age to 67 on the table.
Swampland suggests that Democrats on the supercommittee charged with proposing a deficit reduction package are doing the same:
Democratic staffers on the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday submitted a list of potential savings, including some $500 billion from Medicare through tweaks like raising the eligibility age to 67 from 65. The bipartisan task forces of months past have identified a menu of potential savings the supercommittee can mix and match from to reach its goal.
The actual Ways and Means
memo, however, reads more like a brief
against this option -- and a slap at Obama for proposing it. It also perhaps hints at the germ of a messy bargain, or rather a kind of subtrigger to preserve these alleged savings, which may be presumed dear to GOP hearts (my emphasis below):
Raising the Medicare eligibility age [by two months per year through 2027, to 67]would be a radical departure from current policy and is only possible if the ACA is retained. If ACA were subsequently repealed or otherwise substantially changed, this policy would result in a significant increase in the number of near-elderly uninsured persons. Even
