A free market does not ration honey glazed spiral sliced hams. A free market does not ration anything, not even health care.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's "free."
I know this is a little late, but better late than never.
For such an avowed free market guru you know surprisingly little about them. The free market very clearly rations care based upon price (using the broad definition of ration as any means of distributing a limited resource). If you can afford care you get care, if you don't have the money or credit to get money then you don't get care. Its a very simple means of rationing care but not terribly equitable and it could be argued leads to significantly suboptimal health outcomes.
In economics the term rationing frequently refers to any means by which scarce resources are distributed within a society. It is a broader definition than you're used to hearing about with government controlled rationing during war time.
In a free market the price and individual's willingness or ability to pay determine the distribution of healthcare. Thus in a true free market when you get sick and you don't have money you die (or stay sick), if you do have money you live (or get better).
Another form of rationing that occurred during the 70's oil shocks was "rationing by lines". Those willing to wait the longest got gas, those who weren't went without. I recently experienced this process when receiving "free" tickets to an advanced preview of Clash of the Titans. In order to use your free ticket you had to arrive way early and wait in line. The people who got in got there more than 1.5 hours before the movie started. Given the cost of current movie tickets this implies that people value their time around the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Next time I'll skip the movie and just pay....
I've been sick a few times and didn't bother to consult a physician. I got better. Doctors' waiting rooms are filled with people who would get better on their own, but their employment compensation includes prepaid medicine, so they visit for the slightest sniffles and coughs.
Many people with piles of cash consulted multiple physicians and still kicked the bucket. It is not true that money will always buy a cure. The rich die too.
And you never addressed the role of charity which does much more than provide AIDS treatments to impoverished Africans.
