Wrong direction
Raising the age for eligibility of Medicare to 67 is the wrong direction to go [“Make seniors wait longer for Medicare?” News, Dec. 11]. Millions of people between 55 and 65 are working just so they can keep their health-insurance benefits.

If we actually lowered Medicare eligibility to 55 that would free up a lot of jobs for the younger generation that now cannot find work. Affordability for a public health-insurance plan like Medicare is at least 10 to 15 percent cheaper than private insurance from a Medical Loss Ratio standpoint.

That is the direction we need to go. Of course if we enacted Medicare for all, that alone could take care of the deficit, per economist Joseph Stiglitz.

—Ruth Knagenhjelm, Normandy Park