To be honest, I lost track of which ones they wanted to cut. It probably was Medicaid instead. I wouldn't be surprised if Medicare and even Social Security come down the line at this point.
98% of Americans 65 and older are on Medicare and are overwhelming happy with it. This is true both for those on traditional Medicare and on Medicare Advantage.
For most of them having to switch to any of the existing ways that people under 65 can get health insurance would cost them significantly more and significantly reduce their coverage.
For those who are on traditional Medicare it would also mean going from being able to see nearly any non-HMO doctor (over 90% of non-HMO doctors accept Medicare) to going to managed care insurance where they have to deal with in network vs out of network and where the insurance company is practically looking over your doctor's shoulder and interfering in your care.
Messing significantly with Medicare would thus seriously piss off about 60 million people over the costs and reduced coverage that alternatives provide, and piss of the 28 million of those who are on traditional Medicare even more because of having to switch to managed care.
45% of those people have guns in their households. Most probably wouldn't resort to violence, but there are 27 million of them. That's enough that I'd be surprised if that doesn't leave thousands who would resort to violence.
Look at how many people seem to think the UHC CEO killing was justified, and this would be a lot more disgruntled people.
