ObamaCare also sets in motion long-run forces that could erode the political foundation of Medicare. Don’t believe it?

ObamaCare already contains a large implicit subsidy for the old (regardless of income) in the form of protection of pre-existing conditions and its limitation on how much higher rates insurers can charge the old than the young.

Medicare, for its part, is already means-tested and will become more so. Millions of Medicare users already have opted for a private insurance option. How many ObamaCare customers might one day decide they’d also like to keep their private insurance rather than enroll in fee-for-service Medicare—especially as no signal has been clearer from Washington than the signal that Medicare quality will decline as reimbursements to doctors and hospitals are trimmed back?

Now let’s just dream for a moment: If Medicare and the tax handout to employers declined in importance, what would be left would be ObamaCare plus Medicaid—essentially a schedule of declining subsidies (irrespective of age) that phase out with income.

Voila, this sounds a lot like the alleged GOP cure for our health-care system.