In The Atlantic. I read this one on paper. If the online version sucks, I'm not responsible. (Who knows? Maybe it's been copyedited since the magazine went to the printer, and bad words were added.)

Actually, I've noticed a similar phenomenon to the one Postrel describes, but on a different level: when I changed health-care plans (rather, when I got health insurance after a year or two off, in the wake of losing my lovely Motion Picture coverage), I noticed that I had a really bad feeling about the level of care based on precisely the visual criteria that Postrel alleges we neglect. Which leads me to believe that aesthetic standards are higher among providers that cater to the entertainment industry than they are for other elite Angelenos.

Which would, of course, be a shocker. But when I made my first visit to my new GP and saw how dirty the carpeting was, and how crowded with posters the examining room, and how cluttered his desk was, and how there was a television on in the waiting room—tuned in to some horrible channel—I had a very bad vibe about it.

Postrel is right: these things matter in a way that many businesspeople—including those in the business of health care—aren't quite ready to admit.

Needless to say, this is yet one argument against a single-payer healthcare system. Unless we want hospitals to look, even more consistently, like post offices.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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