The Curb Cut

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 laid bare the gaps in our health systems. Isolation and discoordination of both individuals and systems, inequities at local and global scales, and false choices between our prosperity and our health, all exacerbated the crisis. To build a better "normal" and not just a new one, health care should employ the approach of targeted universalism, which demonstrates that we can often get to universally held societal objectives by using targeted strategies that help provide an advantage to those that have been systematically disadvantaged. The goal is universal, but achieving it requires multiple strategies that target the needs of various groups to help them share in the universal goal. This approach is perhaps most easily understood, and most urgently needed, in the context of improving health equity. Using targeted strategies to permanently remake our health systems will honor the lives of those we lost far too early.