Rationing worked at the Thanksgiving Day table...let's try it for healthcare!

So, the big moment for me had finally arrived - mom's Thanksgiving Day stuffing was about to arrive from the kitchen. Now, ordinarily, I am a fan of moderation, trying to practice what I preach to patients.

But Turkey Day stuffing is an exception! This is one place where I will take 5-6 USDA serving sizes, and that is per helping...three of four helpings into it, some hormonal/biologic/genetic/astrologic response (which is way to complicated to explain on this blog) tells me that it is time to slow down.

So, imagine my horror when I heard mommy's dreadful words as the stuffing arrived this year:

"We only have a small amount of stuffing this year, so I will be handing it out to each of you monsters...I mean children...in equal, modest portions."

My heart dropped. Like the 32 year-old Beverly Hills stay-at-home mother of two (a cat and a parakeet) who NEEDS her weekly full-body MRI, I equally NEED my 20+ servings of mom's stuffing.

And like her, I was willing to pay for it!

"Mom, I'll give you my gas and electric bill, my phone bill, and my college loans to buy the whole pot from you," I shouted in the good ole' Thanksgiving spirit.

But she was not having it - see, she thought that in some weird kind of logic that (1) my cries for stuffing were really not as important to the common good as was her ability to equally divide the crumbly, breaded, addictive mixture, and (2) somehow, this amount of stuffing was not even in my own best interest, since the scientific measurement of the human stomach is only 10-12 servings of stuffing.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that universal health care, rationed out on the basis of where healthcare is needed, is a much more sane way to do healthcare than the current order in which you get how much you can pay for, which is still rationing, but in an irrational way (unless you believe that health and healthcare is not a human right, but is something that should be reserved for those with money...in which case, you may need some stuffing yourself)

Was my brothers' desire for stuffing any less important than mine?
Did I really NEED what I claimed to NEED?
And who would have gone without if I had indeed gotten my way, and taken it all for myself?

Yes, there was personal sacrifice at the dinner table this Thanksgiving for me, but you know what, I already gave up a lot of my rights for the good of the people around me (e.g. not being able to drive as fast as I want on the roads, not being able to park near a fire hydrant, and leaving the toilet seat up when I am finished), and for something as important as healthcare, I would hope I could do the same.

In thanks,
Anthony