At his press conference outside the hospital where he was treated for chest pains last week, Limbaugh the Entertainer pronounced the American health care system sound and solid, the best in the world.

“The treatment I received here was the best that the world has to offer,” Limbaugh said Friday. “Based on what happened here to me, I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American healthcare system. It is working just fine, just dandy.”

Limbaugh, 58, is a conservative talk radio entertainer who makes tens of millions of dollars annually, and was on vacation in Hawaii when he experienced those chest pains.  Neither he nor his doctor, he said, were able to ascertain the cause of those pains.

Imagine the relief Limbaugh’s imprimatur on the American health care system will be to the tens of millions of Americans who do not have health insurance, do not make millions of dollars a year and do not take vacations in Hawaii.

Apparently, Limbaugh does not distinguish between the excellent care medical professionals provide, generally, and such details as access to that care or affordable insurance coverage for that care.  He can afford it on all scores, and, well, really that’s all that matters, don’t you think? If he thinks it’s just dandy, case closed.

He might as well have said “Let them eat cake” for all of the pathos and understanding his condescending comments showed. It isn’t so much that Limbaugh is an elitist as it is he’s simply an entertainer, and what is it we expect from entertainers?  Well, silly, it’s to be entertained.

In its absurdity, the proclamation is comical every bit as much as it is demeaning, dismissive and belittling of those millions of Americans who have neither access to quality health care nor the legitimate prospects of acquiring it. None of that has ever stopped Limbaugh from absurd proclamations before, however.

Serious men and women have debated the issue of health care reform in America for decades.  It’s been a hot topic issue in America, especially, for a year now, and the best the Republican party can come up with for a solution, beyond  obfuscation and parliamentary delay, is tort reform.

CBS News reported last summer that 47 million people do not have health insurance, and that another 25 million are underinsured.  Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee recently suggested the Democrats in Congress were “flipping the bird” to the American people with the health reform bill, but isn’t that what Limbaugh the Entertainer did to those 47 million and the 25 million?

Health care reform opponents are likely to challenge the constitutionality of any law that mandates coverage.  Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear any such challenges remains to be seen, and even though some Constitutional law experts believe there is merit to such a challenge, they are in the minority among scholars.

But, no law has been enacted yet, and so the political fight continues.  The extent to which Limbaugh the Entertainer’s thumbs (if not finger) up to the state of health care in America will carry the day in those debates is debatable.

But, then again, he’s only an Entertainer, and one to whom Chairman Steele has genuflected in the past at that.  Very funny, Limbaugh.  Very funny.