The President's colonoscopy

Steve - perhaps you read that President Obama recently had a virtual colonoscopy instead of the more traditional kind. And perhaps you're thinking, "Hey, if I have to have a screening of my large intestine, make mine a virtual one too!"

Not so fast. Medicare and many health insurance plans won't pay for them.

The data is very solid for virtuals and like most new preventative procedures that produce cost savings and less chance for serious injury, they take forever to covered by insurance!

Note: if something is found during the virtual, a traditional still has to be performed to confirm the findings. And yes, you still have to go through the "cleansing" procedure before a virtual.