Reuters "news" service reports, almost shockingly, that DOLLARS continue to drive access to health care in the United States. That's right our insensitive, money grubbing doctors are more concerned about being paid than they are about providing service to customers. According to the latest study du jour, patients who provided an ability to pay for health care were much more likely to be given an appointment than those who admitted not having any money.

Callers claiming they had private insurance were also much more likely to secure appointments than were callers claiming to have no insurance but who offered to pay $20.00 and arrange payment for the balance due, typically about $80.00.

There was no difference in rates of secured appointments between callers claiming private insurance and those who were uninsured but willing to pay the entire $100 fee for the visit. Clearly, the ability to pay matters, Asplin said.

It's also noteworthy, he said, that 98 percent of clinics screened callers for a source of payment but only 28 percent attempted to determine the severity of the callers medical condition. This shows that "financial screening trumps medical triage in our care system," Asplin said.

In the United States we call that capitalism, whereby people who pay for things get preferential treatment over those who don't. Compare this to socialist/facist health care systems where everybody gets the same crappy service. The Utopian system - where everything is free, nobody has to wait, and doctors are paid with hippy love and high self esteem - does not exist.

But why should health care be any different than any other good or service? A few months ago I purchased a rather expensive item, even though someone else was already bidding for it. Apparently the seller was impressed by my ability to pay cash for it, whereas the other buyer was promising to come up with the money somehow... maybe. Why would we expect doctors to be any different?