Former U.S. Health and Human Services deputy secretary Tevi Troy worries about unintended consequences associated with efforts to create ?universal? health coverage:
Attempts to universalize our system and pay for it with cost controls that could stifle innovation contradict their own goal, which is, presumably, better health. It also embraces the notion that you can get something for nothing ? namely, that you can get innovative new discoveries and better health outcomes somehow without paying for these discoveries to come into being.
This assessment reminds me of Thomas Sowell?s wise observation: ?Economists may say that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but politicians get elected by promising free lunches.?
