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June 19, 2013

Peter Grier and Harry Bruinius: In the end, NSA might not need to snoop so secretly after all

Howard LaFranchi: Taliban peace talks hold glimmer of hope, but also unanswerable questions

Warren Richey: Supreme Court: For right to remain silent, a suspect must speak
Meredith Cohn: Leeches are making a comeback as medical helpers

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to pick the healthiest breakfast cereal

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: Spicy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

June 17, 2013

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein: Black to the Future: American Apparel Gets Biblical

Patrik Jonsson: Minnesota Nazi: How did Nazi hunters miss Michael Karkoc?

Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux: All the ways you're being watched
Don Lee: G-8 meeting will test NSA leaks' effect on U.S. influence

Patrik Jonsson: Fort Hood shooting: Judge nixes Nidal Hasan defense strategy. What now?

Stacey Burling: Why the stigma for migraine sufferers?

The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Abraham: Does it work? 5 new kitchen gadgets put to the test

June 14, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget: Religious economics and being a ruler

John P. Martin: Hitler insider's missing diary found

Matt Pearce: NSA surveillance disclosure could affect court cases
Peter Tinti: US bounties changes strategy on (Wild, Wild) West African jihadis

Daniel Pendrick, M.D.: Memory loss? Old age may be the least of it

Lauren F. Friedman: But it's all natural! Should we have an instinctive preference for herbal remedies?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Streisand and Alicia Keys in Israel; "Girls" Stuff; Mel Brooks, Another TV special; Superman (who is Jewish) returns --- Israeli plays his mom

The Kosher Gourmet by Sharon K. Ghag : Bored with salad? Bling it up a bit (4 effortless recipes that will result in a 'WOW!')

June 12, 2013

Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: What's so special about Omega-3 supplements?
Morgan Housel: What newspapers were saying when you should have been buying

Pete Spotts: How cockroaches evolved so as to bypass 'roach motels'

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: Deep-dish cookie: Warm, gooey and a little over the top

June 10, 2013

Joseph A. Slobodzian: Faith healing and third degree murder: Thorny legal case
Lindsay Wise: Few options for online users to avoid spying, experts say

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: There are plenty of nutritional food bargains out there
Harvard Health Letters: Can bariatric surgery control diabetes?

Zach Murdock: Superglue helps doctors save infant's life

The Kosher Gourmet by Celebrated chef Mario Batali : As good as grilling gets: Rib eye with dry mushroom spice rub

June 7, 2013

Rabbi David Aaron: Beating jealousy

Caroline B. Glick: Wounded . . . and dangerous

Clifford D. May: Al Qaeda vs. Hezbollah
Harvard Health Letters: Fighting back against allergy season

Kimberly Lankford: Grandparents who use FSA to cover grandkid's braces and other must-know info

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom:J ewish Tony Nominees/Tony Awards; Jewish Teen Actor In Sci-Fi Flick; Jewish singer in "Voice" finals

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust

June 5, 2013

John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less

Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Mushrooms Have Medicinal As Well As Culinary Value
Morgan Housel: Why you never learn from your investment mistakes

Don Lee: In China, kindergarten rivalry takes deadly turn

The Kosher Gourmet by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan: 30-Minute Coq au Vin isn't a dream

June 3, 2013

Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself

Richard A. Serrano: Pvt. Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks trial also a test for government

Mark Trumbull: Have degree, driving cab: Nearly half of college grads are overqualified
Kim Lankford: What to do when long-term care insurance premiums rise

Deborah Netburn: Study: Adults' mouth bacteria may help babies

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Contestant on 'The Voice'; Will Smith's 'Jewish movie family'; Bravo Gives Long Island Jews the Jersey Shore Treatment; Magicians and More

The Kosher Gourmet by Bill Ward: How to be as refined as the wines at a wine tasting

May 29, 2013

Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die

Dennis Prager: The 'Muslims-Killed-by-the-West' Lie

David Clark Scott: Open war on teachers?
Morgan Housel: If you know only five things about investing, make it these

Sara Reardon: AGenome detectives change the donation game

Deborah Netburn: A one-way ticket to Mars? 78,000-plus and counting apply by video

The Kosher Gourmet by Bev Bennett: CHEDDAR AND CHERRY MUFFINS --- your mouth is already watering

May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting


Jewish World Review July 10, 2008 / 7 Tamuz 5768

Health Care From Adam Smith

By Bob Tyrrell


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I am back from travels in old Europe and have survived in the pink. Readers of this column will recall that during the past three weeks, I have been traveling through France and England. Add Scotland to the pilgrimage. In Edinburgh last weekend, I participated in the unveiling of an Adam Smith statue, prominently placed near the top of the famous city's Royal Mile. Smith now overlooks much of this city, in which he — along with other members of the Scottish Enlightenment — thrived. He is referred to often as the founder of economics. He certainly is the first advocate of free markets and one of the most famous. Now a heroic statue of him overlooks one of the great tourist spots in Europe. Thousands of tourists will confront him as they parade up to Edinburgh Castle. While there, I witnessed dozens of individuals having their pictures taken at the great man's feet.


Raising that statue would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The Edinburgh city council would not have heard of it. Smith and his ideas were supposedly passe. Now, of course, market economics has swept the world. Even old socialists, such as the Chinese and the Indians, believe in markets and allocate their capital and their energies according to the markets' demands. Marx and Engels are has-beens. The only Marx we admire today is Groucho.


I say I survived my travels in the pink because while in France and the U.K., I never had to avail myself to any aspect of their health care systems. Doing so remains perilous. Their systems remain socialist, or — to use modern American liberals' euphemism — "single-payer." The government pays, and the patient waits and waits. This is a point that never is mentioned by campaigning American Democrats, most notably the Prophet Obama. Liberal Democrats argue that health care costs are relatively low in Europe and quality care is superb — another government-run miracle. "They don't do miracles," responds Regina Herzlinger, author of "Who Killed Health Care? America's $2 Trillion Medical Problem — and the Consumer-Driven Cure." How are European medical costs kept low? Herzlinger explains: "They do it through rationing care to the sick. That's an unacceptable way to control costs."


Thus, I am glad to be home and not waiting in an emergency room, say, in London. Health care officials in Britain discovered that patients were lingering in emergency rooms for days before being treated. Incensed by this, the bureaucrats magisterially ordered that emergency room patients be treated within four hours . The consequences were reported in the Daily Mail. Hundreds of "seriously ill patients" simply were kept longer in ambulances before being admitted to the emergency rooms. Hence, there were fewer ambulances available for subsequent emergencies. As Herzlinger notes, the consequence of socialized medicine is "rationing."


Since President Harry Truman first envisaged socialized health care (sorry, we now say "single-payer" health care), the liberal wing of the Democratic Party sedulously has championed it as though nothing in the realms of economics or social innovation has changed. Milton Friedman, another illustrious free market economist in the long line extending from Smith, noted in a 2001 essay in The Public Interest that technological leaps in agriculture, transportation and communication have lowered prices and raised quality. Yet such technological leaps in medical technology have been accompanied by higher rather than lower costs. The reason, he explained, was single-payer health care — that is to say, government-sanctioned employer-based health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. These are not market solutions, so costs have skyrocketed.


Friedman estimated that had health care expenses been paid for according to free market principles, as they were in the first half of the 20th century — before government involvement — today they would be less than half what they are, and the quality would be no less than it is today, possibly better. The alternative to the European heath care system with its long waits and rationing is to seek market solutions, such as health savings accounts and increased competition among health insurance carriers unburdened by stat-imposed mandates.


The likely Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, proposes a health care package that would contain many of these alternatives. Modern-day heirs to the tradition of Smith have even more ideas. Yet as Philip Klein writes in a comprehensive report on the health care debate in the current issue of The American Spectator, conservatives simply have been lazy about taking up the debate. As he says, "The persistent indifference of conservatives will virtually guarantee that government will devour the private market for health care." It is time they take up the debate and argue for the same kind of free market solutions to health care that Adam Smith's acolytes have applied to other aspects of the economy around the world.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Bob Tyrrell is editor in chief of The American Spectator. Comment by clicking here.

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