From New Republic (April 19, 1993)

by Douglas Coupland

The Surreal World of Health Care Reform Health Care Reform

• Thousands of indecisive bureaucrats moving about with no apparent pattern
• time quickly running out before system financially implodes
• Hillary, a guiding force of inspiration
• redefining entitlement Washington, D.C., 1993
• play-or-pay
• seeks to create new forms primarily by reason, but also by unthinking impulse and blind reason -- or even by accident
• frenzied lobbying
• unseemly squabbling
• Canadian system looked at as possible model
• red tape
• Oregon-style Medicaid rationing
• new push toward preventative care and prophylaxis
• tobacco tax
• costly and unnecessary procedures
• The Jackson Hole Group: meets to discuss their belief in managed competition
• Outraged and confused pharmaceutical and insurance companies
• Congress
• Garamendi Plan introduced: stresses public management over private competition
• universal access to health care
• Surrealism
• Thousands of bureaucrats in bowler hats floating over the landscape
• melting clocks
• Gala Dali, guiding force of inspiration
• redefining the subconscious
• Paris, 1924
• play play play
• seeks to create new forms not primarily by reason but by unthinking impulse and blind reason -- or even by accident
• perspective distortion
• manifestos
• models wearing Canadian bacon
• red telephone shaped like a lobster
• Dali-style non-emphasis on being rational
• two lovers kissing with blanket wrapped over their heads
• ceci n'est pas une pipe
• frivolity
• Un Chien Andalou: manages to completely put holes in notions of belief
• Outraged and confused art establishment
• Sotheby's
• Monty Python's introduction: stresses amusing cartoon snippets over top of privates
• a blue dog walks backward, picks up a telephone and sings an operetta