October 31, 2007

The End of Socialized Medicine?

By Christopher Chantrill
Michael Moore's SiCKO is opening in Britain this week, but the British are not amused.  Anyone can extol the virtues of universal government-furnished health care, they say, when they have never had to use it.  Writes Minette Marrin in the London Times:You would never guess from Sicko that the NHS [National Health Service] is in deep trouble, mired in scandal and incompetence, despite the injection of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money. Not to worry, writes Peter Huber in "Cherry Garcia and the End of Socialized Medicine" in City Journal.  The new age of "molecular medicine," of designer drugs for specific genetic defects, is going to break up the current system of government universal health care that Michael Moore so loves.It all goes back to 1987 when Ben and Jerry's introduced the Cherry Garcia, a monument to unhealthy eating habits.  But, writes Huber,The Food and Drug Administration struck back three months later when it approved the...(Read Full Article)