Democrats Might Expand Medicare if They Win the House. Lower Eligibility Age for Coverage Is on the Table.

House Democrats are developing an ambitious health care agenda that could go well beyond reversing President Donald Trump's policies if the party wins control of the U.S. House in November, with proposals ranging from expanding Medicare benefits to creating new government-run insurance options.

According to a Washington Post report, Democrats involved in the discussions are considering lowering Medicare's eligibility age from 65, adding dental, vision and hearing benefits and limiting how much beneficiaries pay out of pocket each year. A public health insurance option and even coverage for children and young adults through age 26 are also being discussed.

The proposals remain under discussion, and Democrats have not reached a consensus on many of the more expansive ideas. But the more immediate priorities like reversing Medicaid changes enacted under Trump's 2025 tax and spending law and restoring the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expired at the end of last year have considerably broader support within the Democratic caucus.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said this week there is "uniform Democratic support" for those two priorities, according to the Post. The stakes are significant, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Medicaid provisions in the 2025 reconciliation law will increase the number of Americans without health insurance by 7.5 million in 2034.

CBO's latest projections show the total uninsured population rising from about 30 million in 2026 to 37 million by 2036, largely because of changes made by the law. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Terri Sewell of Alabama are leading the House Democrats' Cost of Living Healthcare Working Group. The pairing brings together different wings of the party, with Ocasio-Cortez associated with the progressive caucus and Sewell with the centrist New Democrat Coalition.

"The first chance we get we're going to try to reverse the horrible cuts that the Trump administration has done," Sewell told the Post. Beyond those immediate changes, however, Democrats are examining policies that could significantly expand the federal government's role in health insurance.

One option would lower the Medicare eligibility age, although lawmakers have not settled on a new threshold. Another would expand traditional Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing services, benefits that have long been discussed by Democrats but remain largely outside standard Medicare coverage.

Ocasio-Cortez told the outlet that reversing Medicaid changes would be the priority while arguing that Democrats should continue pursuing broader Medicare expansion. A government-run public option that would compete with private insurance plans is also under consideration, although Democrats currently lack agreement over how such a system would operate. Medicare-for-all remains part of the discussions as well.

Other ideas range from improving long-term care benefits for seniors and expanding Medicare's ability to negotiate prescription drug prices to establishing government-backed health coverage for children through age 26. Democrats are also discussing changes to Medicare Advantage billing practices as one possible source of savings to help finance a larger package.