Metaphysics is probably not the best subject to raise on a Tuesday, but during the commute this morning I did find myself pondering the intelligibility of the empirical universe.

The issue that put these distractions in my mind was nothing less than MBS item 699, the latest addition to the Medicare schedule that may seem to those unversed in Australian health policy as a thing of little consequence.

But this is the bureaucratic mechanism through which doctors will apparently now be able to save thousands of people each year from lethal MIs.

Item 699 is for the GP heart check — the product of a tabloid newspaper campaign, the Heart Foundation’s best intentions and what to sceptics simply looks like a vote-grubbing exercise with the federal election looming.