Government healthcare rationing due to limited resources

Steps:

• Recognize the system: public healthcare funded by taxes, not markets.
• Identify the issue: waiting lists limit access to needed treatments.
• Link to economics: unlimited demand for healthcare exceeds finite government resources.
• Conclude the concept: this reflects the core economic problem of resource limitation.

Why D is correct:

• Scarcity defines the economic condition where limited resources cannot satisfy all wants, causing rationing mechanisms like waiting lists in public systems.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: External costs involve unpriced spillovers (e.g., pollution), not access delays.
• B: Market system relies on price signals for allocation, absent in tax-funded government provision.
• C: Perfectly inelastic supply means fixed output regardless of price, but waiting lists stem from excess demand, not supply rigidity.

Final answer: D

[VIOLATION]