Republicans often try to convince us that economic concerns force them to kill Medicare, but there is little evidence for this. It is more efficient than private insurance (which has to make a large profit) and since Obamacare, Medicare outlays per beneficiary have risen only 1.4 percent a year [Krugman, NYT].

Paul Ryan has repeatedly passed a budget bill that kills Medicare as a health insurance program. Until now, it never got through the Senate and would have been vetoed if it had. But with a GOP president, successfully fooling the people on this could succeed in killing Medicare.

This could be an important test on whether the media has learned anything from this election. Will they allow Republican obfuscation about Medicare stand, e.g., by putting on an opposing view and let viewers decide who is lying?

Or will they challenge them on every false/misleading statement so that Americans understand that Ryan is actually trying to kill Medicare as a health insurance program?

Even better — why don’t they figure out what “privatized” insurance would cost for an 80-year old with average set of 80-year old preexisting conditions, or list likely premium add-ons for coommon pre-existing conditions?

With these numbers, most Americans can do the math themselves, and most would see that when they are elderly, private insurance would cost more than 100% of their income, even with Mr. Ryan’s coupon.