They could have said they'd save 10 trillion, or 100. What difference does it make? The moment they try and cut someone's benefits, people will scream about their health care and the government will stop them from doing anything meaningful. Then the insurers will say they WOULD have cut the money, but the government stopped them Who's at fault? Everyone. The people who want everything for nothing, the government without the spine to do what's right in the face of an elecorate that's unhappy, and the insurers who think only about their bottom line and not about the lives they are affecting.