Surgeon General is in fact, not a pointless job at all in a single-payer universal health care system, or any health care system that is heavily government subsidized. You become the doctor who decides WHOSE LIVES and WHO DIES.
That should be “who LIVES and who DIES”— and you “educate” everyone else as to the incredible wisdom of your insights....
You don’t think Obama was going to pick someone that we approved of do you?
Gupta is a good choice.