Ken Blackwell makes an interesting observation about the recently thwarted terror plot across the pond:

An ongoing physician shortage brought on by the inherit shortcomings of their government-run health care system … allowed Al Qaeda operatives to legally enter the country and quickly become trusted members of its National Health Service.

But isn’t that something of a stretch? Well, no. Because physician remuneration in the NHS is so inadequate, the best and brightest Brits are going into other lines of work. Thus, in order for NHS to fill the gap:

Foreign doctors are given top priority and almost immediate entrance into Great Britain.

Obviously, the vast majority of foreign doctors are high quality professionals with no ideological ax to grind. But in its desperation to fill physician slots, the British government apparently created short cuts that were exploited by terrorists.

So, in addition to providing lousy service and poor outcomes, government-run health care now presents a security threat as well. It seems to me that it would be easier (and less dangerous) to allow physician wages to rise to their natural market-determined level.