Yesterday, an announcement from the Commonwealth Fund landed in my inbox. The subject line read:

How to Achieve Universal Coverage While Lowering Health Spending

A colleague received the same release, and forwarded it along with this note:

Coming next, anti‐​gravity and perpetual motion machines.

To which I replied:

…eternal youth, gold from base metals, a lasting peace in the Middle East…

To which he replied:

The dead shall rise, the lame shall walk, the blind shall see.

I’m tempted to throw in something about the Cubs winning the World Series. But even that wouldn’t convey the level of impossibility we’re talking about here. You see, there’s an outside chance that the Cubs actually could take the Series.


I’d say we’re as likely to see the dead, the lame, and the blind win the World Series as we are to achieve universal coverage while lowering health spending.


Or does even that overstate the odds?