Universal health care for children: Why every self-interested person should support it

By comparison to other developed nations, both the health care and the heal th status of children in the U.S. are poor. Ethical arguments for covering all children for health services are numerous, but most of them require the suppression of self-interested motivations. Drawing from and developing th e arguments of David Hume, this essay argues that self-interested motives n eed not work against an inclusive system, and can strengthen the case for c overing children in particular. Anyone who hopes to benefit from the inter- generational transfers currently required by Social Security and Medicare p olicies should be an advocate for health care for all children.