Isn’t it offensive that health care is a market commodity?  (Like, you know, string cheese, a bass boat, or an iPod.)

"But doctors have to make money!"

Yes, they certainly do, and the market-based health care system we currently have is the only available way to make sure that happens.  Why, in the socialized health care systems of all the other overdeveloped nations of the world, doctors have to wander the streets with begging bowls and resort to cooperative living situations in yurts made out of monkey dung and dead hobos.  And then they have to spend most of their time treating one another for dysentery and malaria, such that health care is rationed and people must wait six months for a Viagra prescription.

"You wouldn’t want that, would you??  Christ, do you know how much education they received??  And how much it costs??"

Yes, about the same amount of education as me, or a licensed social worker, or a public defense attorney.  So where the fuck is our money?  I mean, you said it’s about the education, right?  So we’re getting a raise, right?  Or was that a bullshit bluff? 

"But doctors save lives!  How can you be so ungrateful??"

But clergy-types, social workers, and public defense attorneys also save lives.  So where the fuck is our money?  I mean, it’s about saving lives, right?  So we’re getting a raise, right?  Or was that a bullshit bluff too?

"But doctors save lives all the time!  You don’t do that…"

Clergy, social workers, and public defense attorneys save lives more often than dermatologists, pediatrists, or plastic surgeons.  Does that mean we can switch salaries?  Or should we receive a standard fee for each life we save, sort of a "piece work" arrangement like we do with those small Asian children with the nimble fingers who make our clothes and electronics? 

"Oh, but you can’t put a price on life.  How can you be so crass?  You shouldn’t go into fields like that for the money."

My point exactly.