An arm and a leg: the true cost of health reform
by Blake Seitz In the words of famous free-market economist Milton Friedman, “there’s no such thing as a free meal.” It’s time to apply this common-sense logic to health care reform. The Obama administration claims the final health care package will extend coverage to 32 million formally-uninsured Americans. They also claim the bill will reduce the federal deficit by a significant amount. If we are to take their word for it, they have authored the ultimate health care panacea—a system that greatly expands coverage and remains cost-effective. I take exception to this second claim. At face value, it seems substantiated: in March, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the bill as reducing the deficit by $143…