, Columnist
Warren’s Health Care Plan Will Cost More Than She Says
She is not counting the opportunity costs that it will impose on the middle class.
What about the opportunity costs?
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Elizabeth Warren claims she can pay for her 10-year, $52 trillion health care plan without increasing taxes on the middle class. But both she and her critics are approaching the question wrong. What really matters is the opportunity cost of policy choices, in terms of foregone goods and services — not whether the money can be raised to pay for a chosen policy.
Consider this point in the context of Warren’s plan, which includes a complex series of health-care savings and higher taxes on the wealthy.