A 25 year old women comes into an Er suffering a severe diabetic seizure. She weighs 300 lbs and is clutching a bag full of cigarettes and Twinkies.
At the same time a 65 year old woman comes in suffering injuries from a bad car accident. She is a healthy weight and was on her daily jog when hit by a car.
Here is the tough question. You have only 1 doctor on hand. Who lives? Who dies?
Socialized medicine puts a priority on the younger person every time because it is WORTH IT to keep a young taxpayer alive. Elderly people costs more.
Just look at the headlines out of the UK. As pointed out in the link from 1999, this age bias in health care has been around for decades in the UK.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/407362.stmhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9126976/More-than-half-care-home-residents-denied-basic-care-unpublished-data-shows.html 
