27% of the federal budget for 2024 was spent on health care [1]. A lot of that is because health care in America is, on average, twice as expensive as in other

27% of the federal budget for 2024 was spent on health care [1]. A lot of that is because health care in America is, on average, twice as expensive as in other rich countries [2]. Clearly, it ought to be possible for us to achieve the same level of care while shrinking the budget by about 13%. If you actually care about the deficit, then that's what you should be focusing on. If you don't actually care about the deficit, then ya; just gut a ton of minuscule social services that add up to <1% of the budget but can be touted to your base as "political wins" while actually kneecapping American scientific competitiveness. [1]: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/what-does-the-federal-government-spend-on-health-care/ https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/what-does-the-feder... [2]: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...