Last week's Republican presidential debate and the elevation of Rep. Paul Ryan to House speaker made it clear that the 2016 elections will carry very high stakes for Medicare -- not to mention for Medicaid, Social Security and the Affordable Care Act.
It's now conventional wisdom in the Republican Party that Medicare should be converted into a defined-contribution program to prod seniors into private Medicare plans and cap spending. That makes it likely Republicans will push forward with that model -- which they've been advocating in various forms for more than 20 years -- if they win the White House and maintain control of Congress in next November's elections. The big question is how much they'll actually do about it -- or talk about it -- prior to the elections, given Medicare's broad popularity.
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