[victorf]

Of course the proper way to order surgeries is to give priority to the wealthy persons so they can quickly get on with creating jobs. Lazy poors aren't going to do anything significant anyway, so they can wait eight or nine months and it doesn't matter.

I cannot imagine raising taxes any further, if a wealthy child's parents couldn't afford to send him to a private school imagine what a terrible education he will have! He might even end up poor himself, which, I'm sure we can all agree, is a fate we should reserve for the already poor.

[dkuntz2]

You know, your first paragraph sounds strikingly similar to the premise of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Critical Care (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Critical_Care_%28episode%29)...

They also found the idea silly.

[victorf]

(The Voyager doctor was a pretty good character)

It is absurd. Everyone complaining about the wait is asserting implicitly that they need to be allowed to get their healthcare before anyone they are able to outbid.

Personally, yes, I want everyone poorer then myself to wait until my surgery is done. But that's because I'm not so far down. Is it what's best for society? Most likely not.

Probably ideally for healthcare you would live in Canada where it is not the worst cost to health ratio of all the western countries, but you're also able to nip down to the US and cut in line in a pinch.