A Glimpse of Obamacare?

Gizmodo published an article almost two weeks back that I’ve wanted to share. The New York Times reported that Medicare/Medicaid refuses to pay for an iPhone application to help those who suffer with speech difficulties. The application, Proloquo2Go, costs only $150 – about 53 times less than the $8000, single-function, at-home computer Medicare/Medicaid will pay for.

I have to agree with most of the pundits that this is one of the worst examples of backward thinking since the $500 hammer. The at-home computers have no other function than converting text-to-speech. You can’t use a word processor. You can’t surf the web. If you suffer from cerebral palsy, autism or Down Syndrome, you’re forced to stay at home and use the computer to communicate with the outside world. But with the iPhone and Proloquo2Go, you could mobile, agile… hostile?

Medicare/Medicaid’s reason for not subsidizing the purchase of an iPhone and Proloquo2Go? Because the iPhone and other similar products would be “useful in the absence of an illness or injury.” That’s right. G*d forbid a piece of technology be multifunctional. The government does not want to pay for you to be able to effectively communicate and play solitaire.

So WTF Obamacare? Can’t we save a little money and make people more productive?