JOHN MERLINE: Democrats’ promise of Medicare for All is remarkably misguided and unrealistic.

Medicare for All backers say that even though it has never been successfully implemented anywhere and would provide “free” cradle-to-grave coverage, their plan will cut national health spending $2 trillion over the next decade by reducing overhead, cutting drug prices, and slashing payments to doctors and hospitals.

Those promised savings are as unrealistic as everything else about Medicare for All.

Private insurance overhead costs account for less than 7 percent of health costs, so even if you were to eliminate it altogether, without adding new paperwork costs on the government side, you’d save a relative pittance. Plus, it overlooks the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are already big drivers of overhead costs for doctors and hospitals, problems that would likely get worse if Medicare were the only game in town.

It’s like running on a platform of flying pigs

Slashing payments to doctors and hospitals is a sure way to drive providers out and force hospitals to close.

And despite all the hoopla over drug prices, prescription drugs account for less than 10 percent of the nation’s health care bill — the same share as in 1960, according to official government data.

They’ll stifle innovation, drive providers out of business, and increase costs on the surviving providers. When Americans notice that they’re paying more, getting less, and waiting longer, Democrats will scream, “We need wider powers!”

And do read the whole thing — it’s filled with useful numbers.