This article is an attempt to assess the effect of personal health care on longevity. It is assumed throughout that personal health care has a differential impact on the various causes of death. Historical and cross-sectional comparisons of the relative incidence of certain causes of death can, under this assumption, provide some insight into the effectiveness of personal health care generally and may provide a gauge of the relative benefits of different personal health care delivery systems. Using the U.S. male population of 1964 as a reference point, it is estimated that the withdrawal of personal health services would result at the most in a decrease in average length of life from 66.9 to 60.5 years.