Simpson-Bowles healthcare plan offers $600B in cuts, few specifics

A new bipartisan deficit-reduction plan to slash a massive $600 billion from US health-care spending over two decades has policy experts scratching their heads over how such an ambitious target can be reached. Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson have yet to declare what they would do to wring savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, according to analysts who provide the two deficit hawks with their facts and figures. Those ideas will be laid out in a detailed plan due to be issued at some point over the coming weeks.