Americans are living longer, so why not lower the eligibility age for Medicare?
That prescription might sound paradoxical: Rising longevity often is used as an argument for delaying Medicare eligibility past age 65. However, one of America’s top geriatricians thinks that Medicare should start covering preventive healthcare when we turn 50.
Dr. Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, says that Medicare should start covering preventive healthcare for everyone when they turn 50, Reuters reports.
She argues that could help people not just live longer, but enjoy more healthy years, while saving Medicare money on treatment of seniors’ chronic illnesses.
Her argument is founded on the idea that age 50 to 65 is the period of greatest risk of disability because of cancer, heart disease and stroke, obesity and diabetes.
