LOS ANGELES TIMES: The commander in chief and his family get free treatment from a staff of four doctors. White House physicians see their role as mirroring the Secret Service, to protect the chief executive.
Reporting from Washington -- When President Obama says he has the best healthcare in the world, he isn't kidding.
The White House medical unit, with a staff of four doctors plus nurses and physicians' assistants, is steps from his office. Treatment is free for Obama and his family (as well as for the vice president and his family).
During the president's travels, a doctor and nurse ride in a limousine in his motorcade. An emergency medical technician comes too, with an ambulance.
Air Force One is stocked with equipment for an on-board operating room. On overseas trips, two medical teams usually travel with the president, one on the plane and one pre-positioned on the ground so the president will always have a rested doctor and nurse at the ready.
The first family receives VIP treatment at military hospitals. And Obama has virtually instant access to medical specialists that few, if any, Americans could duplicate.
"If the president comes to us this morning with a mole on his cheek, a dermatologist will be seeing him today," said Dr. Rob Darling, a retired Navy captain who was a White House physician for President Clinton.
During the Clinton administration, a White House doctor and nurse typically traveled with the first lady when she went overseas separately from the president, but she did not have a medical team embedded in her everyday entourage, Darling said.
A White House spokesman declined to describe the arrangements for Michelle Obama.
The personal physicians and access to military hospitals come on top of a choice of 10 family health insurance options that Obama receives along with all other federal employees.
White House spokesman Reid Cherlin declined to say which health insurance plan the Obama family has. But under the federal Blue Cross Blue Shield plan -- the most popular among government employees -- a doctor visit costs $20 and generic drugs are $10. >>> Mike Dorning | Wednesday, August 05, 2009
