It poured down rain and Amtrak was several hours late. When the train got in I was met by my brother, Dave, because my wife had totaled the car in the storm. They were in Prince George's Hospital emergency room waiting for treatment. No one was seriously hurt, so they were low on the priority list.

Higher on the triage list were the gunshot wounds, drug ODs, and rapes. We were there from 6 PM until 2 AM. Just an inconvenience, but health care rationing none the less.

In the 1970s, a woman who worked for me had bad kidneys. The solution was kidney dialysis but there were not enough machines to treat all the patients that needed treatment. So criteria were established as to who got the treatment. Mary died.

More recently, my wife Kathy's son-in-law needed a liver transplant because of a genetic disease. The disease causes a slow deterioration leading to failure.

Livers for transplant are in short supply, so they are rationed. To get one you have to meet a set of criteria, including being a genetic match for a particular liver. The problem was that the characteristics of Steve's disease were such that by the time he met all the criteria, his health would be too bad to operate. Catch 22.

Fortunately, Steve's sister was a willing donor and she was also a genetic match. Steve is doing well.

And then there are the insurance companies: pre-existing condition -- no coverage; get laid off -- raise the rates; self employed -- forget it; sounds like rationing to me.