20 June 2011
Food is Entertainment
Philadelphia well deserves its reputation for good restaurants. But that renown can sometimes go to the head of a waiter.
Our server listened to my suggestion that the option ought to be offered to guests at a Rittenhouse neighborhood establishment to assemble their own pizzas at the table. He replied argumentatively that the highly regarded chef of the kitchen takes pride in conceiving and executing imaginative combinations of flavors, textures, essences and presentations of the delights on his menu. “Why would you want to substitute your own (mundane) creation?”
The reason might be that restaurant patrons come to food emporiums for a wide variety of entertainment—not only for delights to the taste, but also for a comfortable or lively ambience, an attentive wait staff, and even for a challenge to their own creative instincts. It’s not an insult to the chef that a customer want more from a restaurant than just what is on the menu. Noisy dining rooms, crowded tables, slow or forgetful service, and unkempt lounges can be just as off-putting as an aspiring restaurateur’s dismissive attitude towards the friendly suggestion by a guest that he and his friends be invited to collaborate in building simple recipes for one of the features of the menu. Eating what the customer has a hand in creating can make the entertainment experience of a restaurant memorable and longed for. If a good meal is not a diversion, it’s not a work of art.
Philadelphia well deserves its reputation for good restaurants. But that renown can sometimes go to the head of a waiter.
Our server listened to my suggestion that the option ought to be offered to guests at a Rittenhouse neighborhood establishment to assemble their own pizzas at the table. He replied argumentatively that the highly regarded chef of the kitchen takes pride in conceiving and executing imaginative combinations of flavors, textures, essences and presentations of the delights on his menu. “Why would you want to substitute your own (mundane) creation?”
The reason might be that restaurant patrons come to food emporiums for a wide variety of entertainment—not only for delights to the taste, but also for a comfortable or lively ambience, an attentive wait staff, and even for a challenge to their own creative instincts. It’s not an insult to the chef that a customer want more from a restaurant than just what is on the menu. Noisy dining rooms, crowded tables, slow or forgetful service, and unkempt lounges can be just as off-putting as an aspiring restaurateur’s dismissive attitude towards the friendly suggestion by a guest that he and his friends be invited to collaborate in building simple recipes for one of the features of the menu. Eating what the customer has a hand in creating can make the entertainment experience of a restaurant memorable and longed for. If a good meal is not a diversion, it’s not a work of art.
05 June 2011
Paul Ryan’s Misdirected Health Economics
Cost-cutting will not achieve the goal of health care reform. As long as this model is followed, either on the national or on the local level, as favored by Alain Enthoven in the June 3, 2011, Wall Street Journal, health care in the U.S. will continue to operate as an expensive candy store. The object of the nation’s health care system ought to be to help citizens improve their life experiences, and not to show how good our health care industry is at curing their illnesses.
The main cause of our high cost of health care is inarguably the self-destructive life style of many Americans. Improvement of peoples' living habits should be the primary aim of our country's health care reform. I don't think that tax incentives or penalties will accomplish this. Rather, it will require devoting a significant portion of the HHS budget to innovative education programs.
The fee-for-service model of Medicare certainly contributes to the high-cost problem. It acknowledges that our health-care providers are considered to be purveyors of medical treatments, procedures and devices. Instead, they need to be designated as “shepherds of the flock,” with responsibility for guiding patients to live healthful lives and not only for intervening when something goes wrong.
Medicare’s payment model must be reformed to orient doctors’ and other providers’ financial incentives towards building healthy clientele who ultimately need fewer and less expensive medical interventions. This will probably not be popular with organizations like the AMGA. However, it would help reduce the cost of achieving the healthful results that a rich society like ours should be able to afford were we not so self-indulgent.
Cost-cutting will not achieve the goal of health care reform. As long as this model is followed, either on the national or on the local level, as favored by Alain Enthoven in the June 3, 2011, Wall Street Journal, health care in the U.S. will continue to operate as an expensive candy store. The object of the nation’s health care system ought to be to help citizens improve their life experiences, and not to show how good our health care industry is at curing their illnesses.
The main cause of our high cost of health care is inarguably the self-destructive life style of many Americans. Improvement of peoples' living habits should be the primary aim of our country's health care reform. I don't think that tax incentives or penalties will accomplish this. Rather, it will require devoting a significant portion of the HHS budget to innovative education programs.
The fee-for-service model of Medicare certainly contributes to the high-cost problem. It acknowledges that our health-care providers are considered to be purveyors of medical treatments, procedures and devices. Instead, they need to be designated as “shepherds of the flock,” with responsibility for guiding patients to live healthful lives and not only for intervening when something goes wrong.
Medicare’s payment model must be reformed to orient doctors’ and other providers’ financial incentives towards building healthy clientele who ultimately need fewer and less expensive medical interventions. This will probably not be popular with organizations like the AMGA. However, it would help reduce the cost of achieving the healthful results that a rich society like ours should be able to afford were we not so self-indulgent.
