The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a brief examining the effect of raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67.  An update of a March 2011 study, the July version accounts for additional aspects of the national health care reform law.  The authors estimate that raising the eligibility age to 67 in 2014 would generate $5.7 billion in federal savings.  However, the brief also projects that doing so would increse 65 and 66 year olds' out-of-pocket (OOP) costs by $3.7 billion, and employers' retiree health costs by $4.5 billion.

From the report:

As the debate over the federal deficit takes hold, some are proposing to raise the age of Medicare eligibility beyond age 65 as one among many options to reduce entitlement spending. Previous studies, conducted prior to the enactment of the 2010 health reform law, show that an increase in the age of Medicare eligibility would be expected to reduce Medicare spending, but also increase the number of uninsured 65 and 66 year olds, many of whom would be expected to have difficulty finding comparable coverage on their own, either because of prohibitively expensive premiums or coverage limitations imposed on those with pre-existing conditions. Our analysis differs from prior analyses of raising the age of Medicare eligibility primarily because it takes into account key provisions in the 2010 health reform law, which provides new avenues to public and private health insurance coverage for those under age 65, including expanded Medicaid eligibility and a new health insurance exchange.

Full report: Raising the Age of Medicare Eligibility: A Fresh Look Following Implementation of Health Reform (PDF | 840.34 KB)

Kaiser Family Foundation.  (2011).  Raising the age of Medicare eligibility: a fresh look following implementation of health reform.  Neuman, T., Cubanski, J., Waldo, D., Eppig, F. and Mays, J.