Mr Menand offers this story as one approach to the past, not as documented or demonstrable fact.

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And we've done this, and this is why I got that award (the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant") was that we were the first group to identify an organism that comes from humans -- not dairy products -- that has demonstrable health benefits in both mice and in human cells, and we hope to someday give this to humans clinically to treat various indications.

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If universal health coverage truly had a demonstrable impact on the willingness to take risks, one would not expect the U.S. to outpace its OECD competitors (all of which have had national health systems for decades).

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