GOP Plan to End Medicare: Pray for your 401(k), win the lottery, or go without health coverage

Earlier this month, Rep. George Miller released a report finding that 54 year olds would have to save an additional $182,000 over the next decade to find private health insurance under the Republican plan to end Medicare. But, for those younger than 54, the news is even more startling. 

 

According to new numbers from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), those further away from retirement face an increased burden to scrape together enough money just to buy insurance under the Republican plan that may or may not be available in the private market: 

 

 

House Republicans voted to end the Medicare program in April, which offers guaranteed benefits, and replace it with a plan that would force seniors to find private insurance with the assistance of a voucher. Since the voucher’s value relative to health care costs would decrease over time and private insurance costs are higher than traditional Medicare, seniors retiring in 2022 under the Republican plan would pay much higher costs than under current law. 

 

About half of all workers in America do not have any retirement savings at all. For those that do, the current median retirement account balances ($32,000 in 2007) are not nearly enough to provide for a secure retirement, let alone cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional costs.