Once Medicare is Gone, We Will Never Get It Back

[Jim Lane]

7. A Romney win would be a horrible setback, but I don't think it would be a permanent setback.

Let's assume the worst, that R/R succeeded in voucherizing Medicare -- which is by no means a given as long as there are enough decent Democrats in the Senate (which, I admit, is itself by no means a given). The stories in the OP would then start happening in real life. The backlash would be huge.

My guess is that Medicare as we know it would be restored. It would take several years, and immeasurable needless death and suffering by many people, but we'd get there.

The practical relevance of this difference is pretty much nil, of course. The outcome I envision is horrible. That your vision is even more horrible doesn't mean that I'm advocating complacency.