Booming Medicare When Medicare was introduced in 1965, woman 65 had, on average, 18 more years of life, men, 13.5. Today, those numbers are 21 and 19 respectively. In 1980, Medicare consumed 5% of federal spending; now it’s 13.5%. Raising the Medicare age to 67 cuts Medicare spending by $148 billion, it trims government spending by just $113 billion due to increased subsidies to the elderly for Medicaid and exchange purchased insurance.