Assessing the Proposed Medicare Reforms

The mid-November Republican budget would have reduced federal Medicare expenditures by $270 billion over the next seven years. That target was not the product of an analysis of the benefits and costs of Medicare. There was no examination of Medicare that concluded that during the next seven years the federal government could or should reduce expenditures by $270 billion or, for that matter, by any other number.The $270 billion figure was an artifact. It was determined by considerations unrelated to Medicare. Had the Republican leadership decided to balance the budget in, say, five years instead of seven (even with . . .