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Policymakers often propose lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60 as a way to expand health care coverage. It would help accomplish this goal but also carry a hefty price tag, according to research from the Urban Institute with funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Under the proposal, adults ages 60 to 64 currently enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance could choose to drop their current coverage and enroll in Medicare Parts A, B and D, or they could keep their current coverage and additionally would be enrolled in Medicare Part A as secondary insurance. Doing so would result in several changes in coverage, the report said.

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