July 7, 2008 5:13PM 

# Still Don’t Think Universal Coverage Is a Religion? 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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In case my [last post](https://www.cato.org/2008/07/07/the-church-of-universal-coverage-becomes-self-aware/) didn’t convince you that [universal coverage](https://www.cato.org/2007/07/06/the-anti-universal-coverage-club-manifesto/) is a religion, here is its apostle’s creed:

> To *believe* in universal health care is to *believe* that we can do more and do better, all at once — that it is possible to have hospitals full of high technology and emergency departments with room for all comers; that it is possible for people to choose their doctors and have a say in their treatments; that it is possible to make the economy more free and more efficient; and that it is possible to do all of this for everybody, not just an economically or medically privileged few, in a way we can all find affordable. \[Emphasis added.\]

(As delivered by Church of Universal Coverage high priest Jonathan Cohn and chronicled in the book *[Sick](http://sickthebook.com/)*, chapter 9, p. 231.)

I may *think* that government often [serves the few at the expense of the many](http://www.jstor.org/pss/1886017), that people respond to incentives, that tradeoffs are unavoidable, that there may be [better ways to promote health](https://www.cato.org/2008/03/02/anti-universal-coverage-club-in-the-nyt/), and that [introducing coercion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_the_legitimate_use_of_physical_force) into human affairs creates more problems than it solves.

But just try telling that to someone who *believes*.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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