July 7, 2008 4:10PM # The Church of Universal Coverage Becomes Self-Aware By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE I have blogged before about the “[Church](https://www.cato.org/2008/05/19/medicare-advantage-for-all/) [of](https://www.cato.org/2007/07/30/cbo-bushs-standard-health-insurance-deduction-would-cover-7m-uninsured/) [Universal Coverage](https://www.cato.org/2007/07/06/the-anti-universal-coverage-club-manifesto/),” my affectionate term for those whose support for universal health insurance coverage is impervious to reason — or would be, were they to subject it to reason. I read something today that has me wondering whether the Church might be waking up to the fact that it is indeed a religion. The July/​August 2008 issue of the journal *Health Affairs* contains [a letter](http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/extract/27/4/1198-a) from Mitch Roob, the Indiana official who oversees Gov. Mitch Daniels’ (R) [health care](https://www.cato.org/2007/04/30/the-most-important-health-care-legislation-of-our-lifetimes/) [agenda](https://www.cato.org/2006/11/21/hoosier-tax-and-spender/). Roob writes: > Like other advocates for children’s health, *I have an almost religious conviction* that the [State Children’s Health Insurance Program](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8697) (SCHIP) is effective public policy … Although *I have no empirical evidence* to support the assertion that SCHIP is a beneficial and effective way to invest in children’s health, I worked to expand the program … *I was not able to base this expansion on empirical evidence* because there is none … *The lack of actual evidence* of the benefits for children is simply damning to the program … *Public policymakers need more than just a conviction* that SCHIP works and is worthy of public investment. We need facts. \[Emphasis added.\] Wow. I mean, *wow*. I see three possible outcomes. One, all that cognitive dissonance causes Roob’s head to explode. Two, the Church hierarchy dispatches [its](http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/) [goons](http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein) to burn this heretic at the stake for noticing that their god has no clothes. Three, the Left decides “[to hell with it](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&pid=1441322),” admits that it has a religion, and files for tax-exempt status. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).