“Gee Granny, what would you like for Christmas?”

“Well Junior, how about a nice hip replacement?”:

Pittsburgh health insurer Highmark Inc. is selling a Healthcare Visa Gift Card from $25 to $5,000 to cover prescription co-payments, elective surgery, contact lenses and gym membership.

The cards can be used only at providers or merchants that Visa categorizes as health related, including physician’s offices, pharmacies and health clubs.

The cards aren’t available at grocery or retail stores — they can only be purchased online or by calling a toll-free number.

Highmark believes that the card fills a need for many people who want to help others — from college students to baby boomers — with various expensive health-related needs, but feel uncomfortable about offering cash.

“There’s something about a gift card,” said Kim Bellard, vice president of e-marketing and customer relations at the insurer, which is marketing the card as a stocking stuffer or as a year-round gift.

“There’s something about a gift card.”

Right - and in this case, that “something,” a need for such gift cards, is a pretty damning indictment of our health care system.