Democrats have attacked the president for allegedly proposing $850 billion in Medicare cuts. The remaining $500 billion to $600 billion or so in cuts sound scary, particularly when health-care interest groups say they would be “devastating” and “gut Medicare.” But they would not. The national health-care plan Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others favor foresees a breathtakingly generous program — more so than the national health-care plans of other nations that Mr. Sanders often invokes. It would be astonishingly expensive to do what Mr. Sanders proposes. The reaction to Mr. Trump’s budget implies an all-too-likely scenario if Mr. Sanders got his way: Benefits would be extended, but politicians would shrink from imposing the necessary cost controls.

Source: Washington Post March 23, 2019 21:22 UTC