Dec. 9, 2013 'Palestinians' join prayers for supporter Nelson Mandela Netanyahu missing Mandela memorial Once promised no nukes for Iran, Obama now calling Israel's demands 'unrealistic' Obama& Kerry to Israel: We can be trusted to guarantee your security Kimberly Lankford: Be sure you know the rules for IRA to HSA rollovers Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Take steps now to prevent losing height later Mitch Smith: In Windy City, religion confronts a gust of cold air The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Odegard: Curried Squash Soup With Spiced Pumpkin Seeds is hearty, tangy --- delicious Dec. 6, 2013 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The Road to Faith is Paved with Uncertainty Caroline B. Glick: The Politics of Subversion Jonathan Tobin: Mandela, patron saint of Israel haters? 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Dec. 2, 2013 Rabbi Moshe Grylak: Attack on Chanukah's scholar-warriors an affront to all people of faith Mark Steyn: U.S. boxes in Israel, not Iran: Surrender in Geneva Kimberly Lankford: The Lowdown on the Obamacare Health Insurance Penalty Kathy Kristof: 5 Stocks to Sell Now Karen Ansel, M.S., R.D.: How you can eat more and weigh less Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Vanessa Bayer & Jacob, the Bar Mitzvah Boy; Adam Levine, nickname "the Bear Jew," is People's Sexiest; Eastwoods Need to Say "Kinehora!" The Kosher Gourmet by Kim Ode: Fried and gone to heaven: Dense, fried Slovenian doughnut-like rolls, krofi, on Chanukah is a treat you'll want to eat all year long Nov. 27, 2013 Caroline B. Glick: The goal of Obama's foreign policy David G. Savage: 1993 religious freedom act is at heart of contraception case Jonathan Tobin: SCOTUS Gives Religious Freedom a Hearing Cameron Huddleston: Best Doorbuster Deals for Thanksgiving and Black Friday Anjelica Tan and Cameron Huddleston: 12 Things Not to Buy During the Holidays Amina Khan: Jellyfish inspire flying-robot design The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: Thanksgiving leftovers from boring to brilliant: TURKEY-BUTTERNUT TORTILLA SOUP WITH ZESTY LIME SOUR CREAM Nov. 25, 2013 Jonathan Tobin: Ayatollahs, 1; West . . . Damned Melanie Phillips: It's 1938 all over again Cameron Huddleston: The Black Friday Deals that Aren't Harvard Health Letters: Some health-related apps should be avoided Kimberly Lankford: Time Is Running Out on Energy-Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credits Karen Kaplan: Tracking babies' eyes, scientists find signs of autism in 2-month-olds The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Secrets to perfect roasting of vegetables, including clever cook additions Nov. 22, 2013 Rabbi Benjamin Hecht: Especially wrong: How not to de-pamper a self-absorbed society Caroline B. Glick: A vastly changed Middle East Karen Kaplan: Bored? You won't be after reading this! Morgan Housel: What drives me absolutely crazy about finance Schuyler Velasco: Is one-click shopping just too darn easy? Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Hunger Games: Jewish Connections; A 'Minyan'of Jewish Celebs Recite the Gettysburg Address On-line; Walter Matthau's Reaction to JFK's Death L'CHAIM! by Joshua E. London and Lou Marmon: This year, give the gift of booze Nov. 20, 2013 Christa Case Bryant: Israel becomes a 'Promised Land' for non-Jewish geeks Steve Weizman: Rebuffed by Washington Netanyahu heads to Moscow 'Love Thy Enemy's Grandchild' Yale S. Samole, M.D. : Doctor, do I have to take this medication forever? Sharon Palmer, R.D. : Which foods are best? Busting nutrition myths Eleanor Laise: Medical credit cards can cause heartburn The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: Cranberry Curd Bars with Walnut Shortbread Crust is an excellent last-minute treat for Thanksgiving or any other special dinner this fall Nov. 18, 2013 There Is More Than One Way To Save a Life: As told to Rabbi Nachman Seltzer Nancy A. Youssef : Christians too afraid to complain as treatment in new 'democracy' worsens Stacy Teicher Khadaroo: How to get high school dropouts into 'recovery'? Soumya Karlamangla: Family sues NJ over gay-conversion therapy ban Susannah Snider: When to replace your financial adviser Jordan B. "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative: FINALLY! The solution to the global campaign to ostracize Israel The Kosher Gourmet by Rick Nelson: Celebrating vegetables, Italian-style ( 4 tantalizing recipes!>) Nov. 15, 2013 Rabbi Avraham Edelstein: The Quintessential soul food Caroline B. Glick: The demise of Pax Americana Steven Emerson: 'Muslim exception to the First Amendment'? Sandra Block: Watch out for the sales pitch Morgan Housel: Now is not the time to do anything stupid Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jewish MLB managers; Past and Present; Movie News and Dancing W/the Stars Shocker; Paula Abdul's Israeli bat mitzvah and bio facts rarely reported The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Lamb Stew with Dates and Zinfandel is a slightly sweet, aromatic feast and the perfect cold-weather entree

Jewish World Review Jan. 1, 2009 5 Teves 5769 A Health Reformer's Scary Diagnosis By George Will http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Health care, says the man most concerned with that 17 percent of America's economy, can be "a nation-ruining issue." As Michael Leavitt ends four years as secretary of health and human services, he offers this attention-arresting arithmetic: Absent fundamental reforms, over the next two decades, the average American household's health-care spending, including the portion of its taxes that pays for Medicare and Medicaid, will go from 23 percent to 41 percent of average household income. It is, Leavitt says, "predictable" that today's traumatizing economic turbulence, by heightening Americans' insecurity, will complicate reforming entitlements. This, too, is predictable: By curtailing revenue, today's recession will bring closer the projected exhaustion of the Medicare Part A trust fund, from early 2019 to perhaps 2016. That should get the president-elect's attention. When Medicare was created in 1965, America's median age was 28.4; now it is 36.6. The elderly are more numerous, and medicine is more broadly competent than was then anticipated. Leavitt says that Medicare's "big three" hospital procedure expenses today are hip and knee replacements and cardiovascular operations with stents, which were not on medicine's menu in 1965. After being elected to three terms as Utah's governor, but before coming to HHS, Leavitt headed the Environmental Protection Agency. He came to consider it a public health agency because the surge in Americans' longevity in the last third of the 20th century correlated with cleaner air and fewer waterborne diseases. Longevity is, however, expensive, and demography is compounding the problem. FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. In the 43 years since America decided that health care for the elderly would be paid for by people still working, the ratio of workers to seniors has steadily declined. And the number of seniors living long enough to have five or more chronic conditions — 23 percent of Medicare beneficiaries — has increased. Many of those conditions could be prevented or managed by better decisions about eating, exercising and smoking. The 20 percent of Americans who still smoke are a much larger percentage of the 23 percent who consume 67 percent of Medicare spending. Furthermore, nearly 30 percent of Medicare spending pays for care in the final year of patients' lives. Suppose, says Leavitt, buying a car were like getting a knee operation. The dealer would say he does not know the final cumulative price, so just select a car and begin using it. Then a blizzard of bills would begin to arrive — from the chassis manufacturer, the steering-wheel manufacturer, the seat and paint manufacturers. The dealership would charge for the time the car spent there, and a separate charge would cover the salesperson's time. Leavitt says that until health-care recipients of common procedures can get, upfront, prices they can understand and compare, there will be little accountability or discipline in the system: "In the auto industry, if the steering-wheel maker charges an exorbitant price, the car company finds a more competitive supplier. In health care, if the medical equipment supplier charges an exorbitant price, none of the other medical participants care." Medicare is a price-fixing system for upward of 12,000 procedures and drug codes — and for hundreds of categories of equipment, the providers of which tenaciously oppose competition. Leavitt began implementing a tiny program of competitive bidding covering just 10 products in 10 cities. Based on the 15 days it lasted before Congress repealed it, savings were projected to be substantial. That is why equipment providers got it repealed. Rather than ruining the new year by dwelling on Medicare's unfunded liabilities of about $34 trillion (over a 75-year span), ruin it with this fact: In the next 50 years, Medicaid, the program for the poor — broadly, sometimes very broadly defined — could become a bigger threat than Medicare to the nation's prosperity. This is partly because of the cost of long-term care for the indigent elderly, some of whom shed assets to meet Medicaid's eligibility standard — sometimes as high as income under 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And many states, eager to expand the ranks of the dependent with the help of federal Medicaid money, use "income disregards" to make poverty an elastic concept. For example, they say: A person who gets a raise that eliminates his eligibility can disregard the portion of his income that pays for housing or transportation. Governments with powerful political incentives to behave this way will play an increasingly large role in health care. As is said, if you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free. 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. George Will's latest book is "With a Happy Eye but: America and the World, 1997-2002" to purchase a copy, click here. Comment on this column by clicking here. Archives © 2006 WPWG

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