In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Bush’s proposed “standard health insurance deduction” would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by a net 6.8 million, including a net reduction of 0.5 million children without health insurance.  That’s a net figure, since the CBO expects some uninsured people would gain coverage while others would lose coverage because some employers would stop offering health benefits.

Not too shabby.

No doubt the Church of Universal Coverage will still condemn a standard health insurance deduction because it wouldn’t cover enough children or adults.  In their catechism, nothing matters as much as a paper guarantee of health insurance. 

My own heretical view is that government should not even be trying to achieve universal coverage.  Nevertheless, today’s CBO letter is a nice reminder that there are ancillary benefits to doing the right thing.