October 21, 2009 11:24AM # Universal Coverage Means ‘Willing to Let You Die Sooner’ By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE I cannot disagree with Uwe Reinhardt’s [response](http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2009/10/defining-universal-coverage.php#1377895) to my previous [post](http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2009/10/defining-universal-coverage.php#1377770) at *National Journal*’s Health Care Experts [blog](http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/). But his response bears clarification and emphasis. Improving “population health” generally means “helping people live longer.” To paraphrase, Reinhardt then writes: > If helping people live longer were our objective in health reform, we could do better than universal coverage. But health reform is not (solely or primarily) about helping people live longer. It is (also or primarily) about other things, like relieving the anxiety of the uninsured. I applaud Reinhardt for acknowledging a reality that most [advocates of universal coverage](https://www.cato.org/?s=church+of+universal+coverage) avoid: that [universal coverage](https://www.cato.org/?s=anti+universal+coverage+club) is not solely or primarily about improving health. Will Reinhardt go further and acknowledge that, since universal coverage is largely about some other X‑factor(s), that *necessarily* means that advocates of universal coverage are willing to let some people die sooner in order to serve that X‑factor? (Cross-posted at [*National Journal*’s Health Care Experts blog](http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2009/10/defining-universal-coverage.php#1378756).) ##### 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/).