Let me see if I can't make this so simple, even corporate journalists can understand. The average 65-year-old person gets Medicare Part A for free, and pays $96.40 a month for Medicare Part B. Then they pay $10-50 a month for prescription coverage, depending on which Medicare Part D coverage they buy. Okay, so most people pay no more than $150 a month for insurance that covers most things. Then they buy "medigap" insurance for the things that aren't covered by Part A. That runs $500 and up annually.

If you buy all those policies, you're covered. No worries about "what if."

And what does the Ryan proposal offer? Basically, it's a coupon. Instead of covering you for all those things, it pays a fixed amount -- and anything over that is your problem. People who aren't network news anchors or high-profile columnists don't make enough money to pay for what the Ryan proposal doesn't cover, and as a result, seniors won't get the medical care they need and some of them will die as a result.

You know, unlike most other Western civilized countries. So now you can't say no one ever told you.

By the way, Media Matters explains here why the Romney campaign accusation that President Obama is trying to gut Medicare is a classic case of projection: