Seriously, folks, we need to get our messaging straight, this ain't beanbag. Now that Rand/Ryan is the VP choice, the term is "His plan ends Medicare." Or, for lower-ticket Repubs, "X has voted to end Medicare." Period punkt, stop. For my reasoning , dive below the crossant de Kos
When someone hears the phrase "as we know it," they automatically assume "OK, there'll be some changes, so what," and stop listening or subconsciously not put full attention to what the real message is. Let's face facts: as many here have mentioned, once you pull out the <55's, the dwindling base will make the program incrementally more expensive as the cohort grows older (and sicker) and the <55's will ave absolutely NO incentive to pay into it.
So there's no "as we know it" about Ryan's plan to do away with Medicare. It's his Randian camel's nose under the tent with the full, if unstated intention of destroying the best medical plan available to Seniors that is currently available. We have to hammer home this point, even as the media seals will bark that Medicare will "still be there, only in a different form." If you hear that message, give 'em hell and show then the reality of his ideas.
So please, please, from one who has just achieved Medicare status and is loving it, let's put a lot of effort into correct messaging and really sink that smug little a$$h0le into a hell of his own making, and take Ritchie Rich down with him, along with all the bastards who voted for his rancid oevre.