Cutting off Granny

[Geee]

Weekly Standard:

In a few months my wife and I will turn 65 years of age. I guess we’re the proverbial grandpa and grandma that our political leaders aim to protect. Our mailbox has been full lately with brochures describing the Medicare enrollment process, offering supplemental health coverage, and helpfully answering in advance any questions we might have. One question, however, hasn’t been answered: Why must we enroll in Medicare and give up our current health insurance? Why can’t we simply keep our current insurance coverage when we turn 65?


If we could, we would retain our existing coverage and opt out of Medicare altogether. Our current insurance plan is one with which we are thoroughly familiar; in one or another form we have had this type of insurance our entire adult lives. We’re familiar with its premium costs, its benefits, its copays, and even its shortcomings. We wish its dental coverage were better (though Medicare doesn’t look so good in that regard either), but on the whole we are reasonably satisfied with its pluses and minuses.

Why must turning 65 be so different from turning 63 or 64? Why is our health insurance plan adequate and appropriate when we are 64 but not when we turn 65?