US Medicare expansion to people aged 55-64 broadly welcomed, Kaiser study finds

The US Senate recently began focusing on a proposal to allow some near-elderly Americans to buy into the Medicare program (The Pharma Letter December 10). Though it has not polled on this specific variation of Medicare expansion in recent years, the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll suggests that a general expansion of Medicare to cover uninsured people ages 55 to 64 is broadly popular. Overall, in surveys reaching back to 2000, roughly seven in ten Americans say they would favor expanding Medicare to cover the near-elderly uninsured.

' Most recently, a September survey found support for expanding Medicare to cover those aged 55-64 without insurance at 74%, including 46% who said they 'strongly favor' such a proposal, and 28% whose support was somewhat more tempered. Two in 10 Americans opposed such an idea.

' Support for the proposal was somewhat more bipartisan than other suggestions currently on the table, with a narrow majority of Republicans (53%) joining large majorities of Democrats (82%) and political independents (78%) in backing the plan.

' Although seniors were somewhat more likely to oppose the expansion of Medicare to include their younger compatriots (36% expressed opposition, compared to 13% of those under age forty), a 56% majority were still in favor.