Comments (10) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   NoFearPup said, about 19 hours ago

   Get ready, more “advice” on the way…

2. 

   ben_david said, about 17 hours ago

   Just one more reason it’s the “practice” of medicine. They’ll probably never get it perfected. It’s just too complicated a piece of machinery.

3. 

   parkersinthehouse said, about 10 hours ago

   what i find despicable is that this is about insurance companies wanting to pay less, and the target is women - now they’re saying certainly pap smears aren’t necessary every year - maybe every two years -

   as my good friend marvin gaye once asked the musical question, ain’t that peculiar?

4. 

   iamthelorax said, about 8 hours ago

   I’m not entirely understanding the problem here. Are they (insurance and gov’t) telling you they won’t cover the cost of the test, or that they won’t let you have one?

5. 

   johndh123 said, about 8 hours ago

   Methinks not covering the cost iamthe. I worked for an insurance company before, and mamograms were covered. Most of the competitors at that time did as well.

6. 

   Libertarian1 said, about 5 hours ago

   On all these toon commenting sites there have been strong advocates of “science” who laugh at the ignorance of conservatives who often deny the obvious. Here is another case where true scientific inquiry has produced a controversial result, But now it is the left who deny science. See 3 articles in today’s NYT explaining the science and rationale behind the decision. Liberal scientific denial.

   This has nothing to do with insurance companies. It has nothing to do with the Obama health plan. It is just hard scientific facts which I have stated here, to derision, for months.

7. 

   dovey said, about 5 hours ago

   So, does this mean we can cut back on 100 mile walks, the 10 mile runs, the hop, skip and jump for the cause, pink tee shirts and ball caps? The next time I get that phone call pleading for contributions for cancer research I’ll tell them to check back in a couple of years.

8. 

   Libertarian1 said, about 4 hours ago

   ^ Two totally different types of “preventative” medicine.

   Type A- Don’t smoke, watch your diet, exercise etc. Very effective and cost efficient. Keep that up.

   Type B- Mammograms, PSA blood tests etc. The subject of the discussion we are now having. Terribly cost inefficient, produces horrific unnecessary anxiety and should be considered on an individual basis.

9. 

   motivemagus said, about 3 hours ago

   I’ve been diving into this a bit, and I do see the point; but they badly mishandled the release of this, considering how poor the media are at communicating scientific facts – particularly medical facts.
   
   Properly stated, the point is that mammograms, etc., are not adding value for most women in their forties and are therefore causing them annoyance, discomfort sometimes pain, and expense for something that isn’t spotting breast cancer except in very exceptional cases. But any woman with a history of cancer in her family or who is at risk for breast cancer will not be affected by this, and should go ahead anyway to minimize the risk.
   What we really need is a better indicator of potential breast cancer for women in their forties – and earlier, in fact. Fennec referred to blood tests; at some point genetic markers may be identified as well.

10. 

    Libertarian1 said, 7 minutes ago

    ^ Motivemagus

    Well said, succinct and accurate.

    The articles don’t discuss unnecessary surgery for those patients who have some uncertain clouding on the mammogram, the anxiety, the unnecessary radiation to 1902 women, the hospital acquired infections etc etc.

    Unfortunately, the release was in concert with the discussion of the Obama plan and people think it is cost savings rather than just prevention of bad medicine.