Health System Reform - Expansion of Medicare
for Patients Ages 55-64

You know what happens when a structure isn’t built on a solid foundation—it quickly sinks and collapses. Just as a building can’t be constructed on a crumbling foundation, neither can the nation’s health care system.

Reports from Washington, D.C., indicate that the U.S. Senate is considering an expansion of Medicare by creating a “buy-in” or “opt-in” program for those ages 55-64, instead of a new public insurance option.

The AMA supports health system reform; but Congress needs to fulfill its commitments to current Medicare patients rather than expand its obligations under the program. Physicians must be assured of stable payments so they can continue to care for seniors, baby boomers and military families.

Urge your senators to reject this proposal. Call your senators using the AMA’s grassroots hotline at (800) 833-6354.

The AMA has been expressing its concern over an expansion of Medicare all year long. In May, the AMA addressed this very issue in comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee:

The AMA does not support extending individuals ages 55 through 64 an option to buy-in to Medicare, even on a temporary basis. The AMA will work with the committee to meet the needs of this population as part of overall health system reform… In particular, we believe that the current Medicare program and financing of health care for retirees must undergo a fundamental change in order to ensure efficient and fiscally responsible access to medical services.

The AMA will not support a proposal that allows people to buy into Medicare, because expanding Medicare will only add to the program’s instability—a crumbling foundation. The AMA would like to ensure that health care coverage is built on a solid foundation, and we believe that an insurance exchange and market reforms will provide more choices of affordable health care coverage options and better access to care.

Call your senators using the AMA’s grassroots hotline at (800) 833-6354. Remind them:

1. An increasing number of physicians have been forced to quit accepting Medicare patients because of the program’s burdensome regulations and unstable payment system. Adding more patients to the program will force more physicians to make this difficult decision.
2. Medicare payment rates have failed to keep pace with practice cost increases; and the program’s balance billing and private contracting limits are so rigid that costs have been shifting to the private sector.
3. Increasing the number of patients covered by the Medicare program will only increase this cost shifting, raising premiums and health care costs for other Americans.

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