Make Medicare solvent by letting younger people in

Jay Hancock's article about shared sacrifices was well written and I couldn't agree more with his main thrust of putting everything on the table for all to sacrifice, from entitlements to cuts in spending to raising revenue ("Fixing America needs contributions from everybody," Oct. 2).

I will point to one piece and take another point of view. That is Medicare. I believe there is a way to reform Medicare making it more solvent without sacrifice. I suggest lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare to 55. This would add about 20 million new younger premium paying subscribers to Medicare. These younger subscribers will be much healthier than the present over 65 cohort. Therefore, statistically, they will require less health care services. Therefore more money in to Medicare without a corresponding increase in cost thus improving Medicare's solvency without cutting benefits.

Mel Mintz, Pikesville