Universal Coverage Matters More

At the moment more emphasis is being placed on extending health care coverage than on cost containment. I would argue that this is in fact the correct position from a political standpoint. Once coverage is expanded it will be extremely difficult for future lawmakers to diminish it, and it will also put additional pressure on the cost problem. This is certainly worrying, but I believe that in practice it takes a real crisis to prompt serious reform owing to our onerous system of checks and balances and special interests. Costs are out of control so action on that front must come; universal coverage, however, is much less of a sure thing.