David Brooks picked this essay by Jonathan Rauch as one of his favorites for 2009.
It's spot-on. Is it ever!
Brooks' description:
Rauch described what the airline industry would look like if it worked the way the health care industry works. The piece takes the form of a customer trying to book a flight with a customer service representative. The customer wants to fly from Washington, DC, to Oregon on Oct. 3, but the airline lady can squeeze him in only in January or February. He can call each of two dozen other airlines if he wants to check other availability. When he finally gets on a flight, he finds that his airline will only take him to Chicago, since it’s an eastern-region specialist. He’ll have to find a western-region specialist to get to Eugene. In addition, he’ll have to fax in a 30-page travel history questionnaire, make arrangements with a separate luggage transport provider and see if he can find a fuelist who might be free to make fuel arrangements on that date. That is, if the airline is in his insurance company’s provider network, which it isn’t. Fasten your seat belts - it's going to be a bumpy flight. Give it a read.
"I'm sorry sir. We don't use email to transmit records and other personal or secure documents. We keep our records on paper." -- Cynthia, Airline Health Care representative, from the essay
Would be funnier if there weren't so much truth to it. Thanks for posting.
Posted by: Flyboy | Sunday, 27 December 2009 at 10:00 AM