It couldn't happen. Health care? Airlines? Competition? Deregulation? Let's just put the whole thing together

There are some almost-eerie parallels in how government, payers and patients/passengers view U.S. health care and U.S. air travel. Many claim to see the benefits of competition while some (even simultaneously) point to a need for regulation. The federal government in particular has supplemented traditional controls with "regulation by embarrassment," publishing on-time performance records for airlines and mortality rates for hospitals. Emily Friedman, writing from the imagined viewpoint of November 1994, thinks the parallels may be even eerier than many people realize.