At least 125 Democrats have co-sponsored a bill seeking to lower the eligibility of Medicare from age 65 to 60, while a shockingly poor August jobs report reaches only a third of expected gains and the worst since January.
Democrats introduce Bill to lower Medicare eligibility to age 60
House Democrats introduced a bill that seeks to lower the eligibility of Medicare from age 65 to 60. At least 125 Democrats have cosponsored the legislation, and they hope to add the bill to the final $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, CNN reported.
According to the cosponsors of the legislation, lowering Medicare eligibility by five years would expand the availability of medical insurance to at least 23 million people.
According to reports, the idea of lowering the Medicare eligibility age is highly popular across the Democratic caucus with 70 percent of lawmakers pledging to support the measure when surveyed earlier this year. President Joe Biden has also called for lowering the eligibility age.
“Expanding and improving this wildly popular program is not only the right thing to do from a policy perspective, it is also what the majority of Americans across party lines support,” said co-sponsor Rep. Pramila Jayapa (D-WA), who is the Progressive Caucus chairwoman.
Expanding Medicare
In addition to striving to lower the age of eligibility for Medicare, Democrats are also seeking to expand Medicare itself to include hearing, dental, and vision care for the first time, as well as implement a cap on out-of-pocket expenses under traditional Medicare. They also seek to allow the program to negotiate lower drug prices from manufacturers.
Poor August job growth falls far short of expectations
US economy only added 235,000 jobs in August, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday. Job growth fell far below economist’s expectations, reaching only roughly one-third of the 720,000 new jobs economists predicted. The number also is a sharp decline from the 1.1 million jobs added in July and the 962,000 jobs added in June, the Daily Wire reported.
The unemployment rate now stands at 5.2%, which is a drop from the previous 5.4%, keeping in line with what economists had expected. However, August’s job numbers are the worst since Biden took office in January, according to CNBC.
According to some analysts, the rise of the Delta variant has stunted the performance of the labor market.
However, others disagree, saying that fear of the Delta variant is largely a product of fear-mongering by both the media and Democratic politicians.
