About That Hearing Test, Mr. Obama . . .

Ho-hum news: Obama had a medical check-up and he’s okay. More interesting news, especially to anyone who has ever had a colonoscopy: Obama’s physical included a much more comfortable and safe “virtual” procedure than ordinary mortals get. Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit quipped, “So can I assume that an average 49-year-old man will be able to get one of those under ObamaCare?”

Of course not. Medicare doesn’t cover this improved procedure, accomplished with a scan instead of an inserted camera. “So,” as one Instapundit reader noted, “you can bet your sweet bippy they won’t be covered under Obamacare.” Virtual colonoscopies are considered too “experimental” for use on average folk, but not for use on the President of the United States. Right.

It’s little experiences like getting the inserted-camera when Barack Obama, Chuckie Schumer, and Harry Reid are eligible for the comfortable little scan that makes the average Joe (or Glenn) a mite suspicious about their future under ObamaCare.

But what got my attention was Reynold’s observation that Obama is 49 going on 50. That’s when I remembered: In the “complete lives system” advocated by one of his chief health care advisors, Obama at the age of 49 is tottering on the brink of seriously reduced eligibility for medical treatment.

The health care advisor in question is Rahm Emanuel’s brother, Ezekiel, who holds both an MD and a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Harvard. Below, on one of Zeke’s charts, it’s pretty clear where Barack Obama would stand in the complete life system.

Lucky thing for Obama that he doesn’t have to worry about ObamaCare for himself. In fact, it’s a lucky thing for Obama that Chuckie and Harry and Nancy don’t have to worry about ObamaCare for themselves, or I suspect that right now he’d be standing in a cold hospital room in socks with holes in the toes and a drafty hospital gown staring at a bucket of used medical waste instead of thumping his chest over ObamaCare Jr.

Interestingly, in his 2009 article, “Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions,” Dr. Emanuel (perhaps unwittingly) had one or two things to say about ObamaCare:

As well as recognizing morally relevant values, an allocation system must be legitimate. Legitimacy requires that people see the allocation system as just and accept actual allocations as fair. Consequently, allocation systems must be publicly understandable, accessible, and subject to public discussion and revision. They must also resist corruption, since easy corruptibility undermines the public trust on which legitimacy depends.

It seems that President Obama is suffering from selective hearing. Giving Grandma a pill instead of surgery is okay, but insuring that health care systems are publicly understandable and resistant to corruption is not okay? Is there a medical treatment for listening deficiency, Dr. Zeke?

Cross-posted at Potluck. (Join the discussion.)
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