Overbooking

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > The Egalitarian Cruelty of the NHS

"'I'm a person who left school at 15 and I've worked all my life and I've paid into the system, and I'm not going to live long enough to get my old-age pension from this government,' she added."

That's England, but it seems to me the US' less comprehensive system is likewise dependent on overbooking, like what airlines do.