This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, January 31st, 2012.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Free riding sky rocketed under Romny Care in Massachusetts and it came at the expense of taxpayers elsewhere in America.

In evaluating one claim in a presidential debate,

it took a little while, but the fact checkers eventually did verify the facts.

So says Michael Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, eventually did verify the facts.

So says Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies,

the Cato Institute.

There's something interesting that happened as a result of a charge

that Rick Santore made against Romney care

in the last presidential debate.

Mitt Romney has always defended Romney care on the grounds that it reduced free ridership

in Massachusetts.

It reduced the incidents of people showing up at an emergency room expecting free care because it expanded health

insurance to people.

What Rick Santorum pointed out was that in fact after Ronny Care became law, free ridership increased fivefold from 2006 to 2008.

Now after that, Ronmy said that was simply impossible.

After that debate, the fact checkers went to work. They

asked Rick Santorum, where do you get those numbers? Rick Santorum actually mentioned an

article that I had written in the Wall Street Journal just a couple of days

before and so the fact checkers written in the Wall Street Journal just a couple of days before.

And so the fact checkers, this is sort of funny, the fact checkers at fact check check.

...