Leslie Norwalk, Strategic Counsel to Epstein Becker & Green and EBG Advisors, was quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article examining whether a proposal to allow younger people to buy Medicare coverage would ease a health-care problem or break an overburdened program.
The article, "More for Medicare?" discussed a controversial plan being considered by Washington lawmakers that would allow those between 55 and 64 to buy Medicare coverage. One option would make such coverage a temporary measure for the uninsured until a comprehensive health-care overhaul is in place.
But even a temporary measure is likely to face some opposition because "it's unrealistic to put something like that out there and expect it to ever go away," said Norwalk..
Employers would like the option of having their 55- to 64-year-old workers go into Medicare to reduce their own costs, Norwalk said, but allowing a Medicare buy-in could increase costs to the program and its current enrollees, especially if only people in poor health signed up.
"Without a doubt, the political feasibility relates a whole lot to how much this would cost," said Norwalk.
