Health CEOs urge deficit panel to raise Medicare's eligibility age

But Blue Dog Democrats said Wednesday that no one is going to cut benefits for seniors or people near the current eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security.

Bloomberg: Medicare Eligibility Age Should Rise To 67, Health CEOs Say
A congressional panel negotiating U.S. spending cuts should raise the age when people become eligible for Medicare to 67 from 65, a group representing health care chief executives said today. The Washington-based Healthcare Leadership Council included the recommendation in four proposals it said would save $410 billion in a decade, along with having private health plans to cover additional Medicare recipients and make people earning more than $150,000 pay for the full cost of the program's premiums. Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Merck & Co., the two largest U.S. drugmakers by revenue, are members of the council (Armstrong, 9/14).

The Hill: Blue Dogs: Health Benefits Won't Be Cut
Conservative Democrats said Wednesday that no one's talking about cutting elderly Americans' health benefits, even as they urged the deficit super committee to go beyond its mandate and shave $4 trillion off the federal deficit. "No one is going to vote to cut benefits for seniors and for those who are near the Medicare and Social Security age, Democrat or Republican," said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.). "No one's going to do that. Politically it would be suicide" (Pecquet, 9/14).