Is free medical school a “free lunch?” Proposed by 2 physicians in a NY Times Op-Ed, free medical school lets future doctors benefit by having no tuition debt. Society benefits because more people attend medical school. And, not having the $155,000 debt burden means additional doctors will select primary care, a lower paying specialty. 

The Economic Lesson

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

With cost defined as sacrifice (choosing is refusing), each of us would pay for free medical school in a different way. Consequently, for some the cost is too high while for others, it is “affordable.” For example, as a society we might be sacrificing individual freedom because of more government. The cost for a law school would be the potential applicants who decide, instead, to become doctors.

An Economic Question: Citing “cost,” for different people, do you support free medical school?