By Matthew Rae Twitter, Cynthia Cox Twitter, Krutika Amin Twitter,
and Tricia Neuman KFF Posted: April 27, 2021
One of
President Biden’s campaign proposals was to lower the eligibility age for
Medicare from 65 to 60, with the goal of offering lower-cost public insurance
to a group that often faces high out-of-pocket costs with private coverage.
More recently, Democrats in Congress reintroduced a bill that would allow people ages 50 to 64 to buy
into Medicare. A policy that moves older adults from private insurance to
Medicare could also affect younger adults who remain enrolled in private
insurance.
In this
brief, we explore the effect that moving older adults onto Medicare might have
on employer-sponsored insurance costs. To do so, we evaluate spending by age in
large employer plans using IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters
Database.
We find
that, if people age 60-64 were no longer enrolled in employer-sponsored
insurance, costs for employer health plans could drop by up to 15%. Similarly,
if all people age 55 and over were no longer enrolled in employer-sponsored
insurance, costs for employer plans could drop by as much as 30%. And if all people
age 50 and over were no longer enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance, costs
for employer plans could drop up to 43%. However, there are reasons to suspect
the actual impact on employer-sponsored costs and premiums would be much
smaller.
Many
working elderly adults choose to continue on employer coverage. If the
eligibility age for Medicare is lowered, many working adults may continue
enrolling in employer coverage as well. Therefore, the actual effect on
employer health plan costs would likely be smaller, depending on how many
people ultimately decide to switch to Medicare, if given the option.
These
findings suggest that lowering the age of Medicare would have a downward effect
on employer health spending and could also have a downward effect on total
national health spending due to the lower prices paid in Medicare versus
private insurance. The magnitude of any change in health spending would depend
on the number of people who choose Medicare instead of an employer plan, the
number of uninsured adults who gain coverage, and other factors. However, a
large share of health spending for older adults who choose Medicare over
employer coverage would be shifted from the private market to taxpayers.
Background
Almost
six-in-ten (155 million) non-elderly individuals are enrolled in
employer-sponsored health plans. The premiums for these plans are typically
shared between employers and workers, with workers contributing 27% of the premium cost for a family, on average.
Over time, worker premium contributions have grown, raising affordability challenges, particularly for lower
income workers.
Generally,
people under age 65 currently do not have the option to sign up for Medicare
unless they are permanently disabled, so most are enrolled in employer
coverage. Currently, people age 65 and older are eligible for Medicare and
those who work for a firm with 20 or more employees have the option to choose
to be covered under their employer plan or Medicare. If they choose their
employer plan, then the employer plan is the primary payer and Medicare is
secondary. If the employee instead elects to enroll in Medicare rather than
their employer plan, then Medicare is the primary payer. When Medicare-eligible
employees elect an employer plan as their primary coverage, they typically
defer enrollment in Medicare Part B and D, and are not subject to a penalty for
late Medicare enrollment.
In
general, healthcare use and spending increases with age because health problems
increase with age. However, people in their early sixties (age 60-64) enrolled
in large employer coverage actually have somewhat higher per capita health spending than people in
their late sixties (age 65-69) enrolled in Medicare. This is in large part
because payments to providers are higher from private plans than in Medicare.
One of
President Biden’s campaign proposals included lowering the eligibility age of Medicare to 60 years old from
the current age of 65. This proposal is aimed at lowering the high premium and
out-of-pocket costs older adults often face in the private insurance market.
While details of that proposal have yet to be fleshed out, Biden has said that
his proposal would allow older adults in their early sixties to have a choice
of whether to sign up for Medicare, keep their employer coverage if such
coverage is available, or enroll in a new public option.
Under
a proposal recently reintroduced by Democrats in the Senate, people
ages 50 to 64 would be eligible to buy in to Medicare. This proposal would
allow eligible people to buy into Medicare using financial assistance otherwise
available to purchase a Marketplace plan. A Medicare buy-in is different from what
President Biden proposed during the campaign, which was to lower the age at
which people could choose to enroll in Medicare. Under either option, some
health spending would shift from the private market to taxpayers.
Age
Distribution of Health Spending among Enrollees in Large Employer Plans
As is
the case with health spending generally, health costs in the employer-sponsored
private insurance market are highly concentrated among a relatively small group
of people who are in worse health or have more healthcare needs. As health
tends to worsen as we age, it is unsurprising that health spending for people
with employer coverage is higher among older adults.
We
analyzed a sample of medical claims obtained from the 2018 IBM Health Analytics
MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database, which contains claims
information provided by large employer plans. We only included claims for
employees and/or their dependents under the age of 65.
We find
that, while people age 60-64 represent only 7% of enrollees in large employer
plans, they account for 15% of health plan spending (not including
out-of-pocket costs). Similarly, people ages 55-64 represent 15% of enrollees
in large employer plans, but account for 30% of health plan spending. People
ages 50 to 64 represent 24% of enrollees in large employer plans but account
for 43% of health plan spending.
Employer plan health
costs are concentrated among older enrollees
Effect
of Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age on Employer-Sponsored Insurance Costs
To
understand the maximum potential impact of reducing Medicare’s eligibility age
on employer plan spending, we estimated the cost of employer plans, assuming
all enrollees ages 60-64 left their employer plans.
This
analysis is meant to be illustrative of the maximum potential effect on
employer health plan costs. The true effect on employer health plan costs would
greatly depend on the Medicare take-up rate. Given a choice, it is unlikely
that all people would leave their employer plan. Based on our analysis of the
2019 National Health Interview Survey, roughly two thirds of Medicare-eligible
people ages 65 and older who were working and offered coverage from their
employer elected to have Medicare as primary payer. The magnitude of the impact
on health spending for large employers and workers would depend on how many
older workers shifted from employer coverage to Medicare, as well as the
details of how a lower eligibility age for Medicare would work. The choice
between an employer plan and Medicare may be influenced by a number of factors,
including benefits and cost-sharing requirements, premium contributions,
network restrictions, and whether they are the policyholder for a plan covering
dependents. Medicare does not provide coverage to dependent spouses or children
of beneficiaries who are not otherwise eligible for benefits.
If all
employees in large employer plans ages 60-64 switched from their employer plans
to Medicare, employer health plan costs would decrease by 15%. If all people
ages 55-64 were not enrolled in employer plans, employer health plan costs
would decrease by 30%. Finally, if all adults ages 50-64 were not enrolled in
employer plans, employer health plan costs would decrease by 43%.
Employer-sponsored
health plan costs would be lower if older adults moved to Medicare
Health
insurance premiums are largely determined by health spending. Therefore,
reductions in health spending for people with employer coverage would likely
yield savings to employers, which could then also translate to lower employee
premiums and/or higher wages. Any reduction in employer health costs could lead
to lower premiums paid by employers for health insurance. (Large employers
often self-insure, so a reduction in their per-enrollee cost would essentially
translate to an similar reduction in “premiums”). Employers would then have
discretion of whether and how to pass that savings along to employees,
potentially through lower employee premium contributions or higher wages. It is
theoretically possible that the savings could be muted if providers increase prices
in private insurance plans in response to more people enrolled in Medicare,
which pays providers less. Researchers have generally found little evidence to support the notion that providers
shift cost on to private payers to compensate for lower public payer payment
rates, but we do not know the impacts of a proposal of this magnitude.
Discussion
Like
other health reform proposals, lowering the eligibility age
of Medicare presents a series of considerations for people who are offered a choice
between an employer plan and Medicare. We find that lowering the eligibility
age of Medicare could have a downward effect on employer-sponsored insurance
costs of up to 15% (if the age is lowered to 60) or 43% (if the age is lowered
to 50), assuming all older adults that are given the option choose to shift
from their employer plan to Medicare.
However,
the true effect on employer health plan costs would greatly depend on the
Medicare take-up rate. Currently, many Medicare-eligible adults age 65 and older
choose to maintain their employer coverage (making Medicare the secondary
payer). If newly eligible older adults choose to remain in their employer plan,
any downward effect on employer health plan costs would be smaller.
Additionally, if sicker enrollees chose to stay on employer coverage, the cost
savings to employers would also be smaller.
Older
adults presented with the option of enrolling in Medicare or employer coverage
will consider a range of factors, including their own personal out-of-pocket
liability and their provider network. People with access to employer-sponsored
health coverage would be more likely to switch to Medicare if it would lower
their premiums and out-of-pocket costs, which would be true for many people,
especially given the lower premiums and additional coverage offered by private
Medicare Advantage Plans. However, the more the age of Medicare is reduced, the
more likely it is that people given the choice between Medicare and employer
coverage will also need to consider health plan options for their spouse or
child dependents.
For
those who do leave employer coverage under such a proposal, a large share of
their health spending would likely shift to the federal budget, in that
Medicare is funded in part by general revenues. The shift from employer
coverage to Medicare could exacerbate the financial challenges facing Medicare’s Hospital Insurance
Trust Fund, without safeguards to prevent this. In his campaign, President
Biden proposed to finance the expansion through general
revenues, rather than the Trust Fund.
The
total costs for people moving to Medicare would likely be lower than their
total health costs under employer coverage, in large part because Medicare
generally pays hospitals and other health care providers
less than private insurers do. In a related study, we find that per capita spending is
actually lower for people ages 65-69 on Medicare than it is for slightly
younger people ages 60-64 enrolled in large employer plans, which is most
likely due to lower payment rates. With younger, healthier, lower cost people
shifting into the Medicare risk pool, Medicare premiums for all beneficiaries
could also decline.
Taken
together, these two findings suggest that lowering the eligibility age of
Medicare could have a downward effect on total national health spending, the
magnitude of which would depend on the number of people who choose Medicare and
how many uninsured people gain coverage, among other factors. While a shift
from employer coverage to Medicare would increase costs to the federal
government, total health care spending would likely decrease for 60-64 year
olds who move from employer coverage (because Medicare pays providers at a
lower rate than private insurers) and for others with employer coverage (due to
a smaller and healthier group of enrollees).
Methods
We
analyzed a sample of medical claims obtained from the 2018 IBM Health Analytics
MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database, which contains claims
information provided by large employer plans. We only included claims for
people under the age of 65. This analysis used claims for almost 18 million
people representing about 22% of the 82 million people in the large group
market in 2018. Weights were applied to match counts in the Current Population
Survey for enrollees at firms of a thousand or more workers by sex, age and state.
Weights were trimmed at eight times the interquartile range. Costs reflect
amounts paid under the plan, and do not reflect enrollee out-of-pocket
spending, through cost-sharing or non-covered services. In addition, health
plan spending includes spending prescription drugs, and is not reduced by the
amount of any rebates a plan may receive.
To
estimate the share of Medicare-aged enrollees who relied on Medicare as their
primary insurer, we used microdata from the CDC’s 2019 National Health
Interview Survey Sample Adult Questionnaire to examine working seniors’ access
to employment-based coverage coupled with their responses to Medicare
enrollment questions focused on Part A and Part B.
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