Healthcare Hoodwink

One of the top news stories of the day was new information regarding Breast Cancer, and as usual, I can see beyond the cloaking device at what is really going on.

First, the news. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force adjusted their stance recommending mammogram for women over 40 to only once a year for those over 50 reported the Wall Street Journal. In addition, they advised against physicians teaching women self testing techniques upon new information they are of little value.

Quoting the Wall Street Journal article, The task force, which receives funding from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality but is independent from the government, last issued guidelines for breast cancer in 2002. "The task force isn't saying there isn't a benefit" to screening women in their 40s, but "we're saying the benefit is small," Dr. Petitti said. "The change really is a change between do it routinely and don't do it routinely." Women 40 and older who are free of any symptoms should talk with their doctors and decide with them whether to put off screening for a few years, she said.

Who is AHRQ you may ask? They describe themselves on their website as "The health services research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), complementing the biomedical research mission of its sister agency, the National Institutes of Health."

Although many articles are hitting private insurance on this one, including representatives of the Susan G. Komen Foundation as noted in the WSJ article, I find the opposite. As our government prepares to take over the health care industry, they are finding ways to cut costs. On such area appears to be by delaying testing of breast cancer through expensive mammograms.

In private business, cutting costs is a prudent measure. But in the case of your health battling the deadly disease of cancer, this type of thinking could cost you your life. Dr. BAHL, not a MD by any stretch of the imagination but having gleefully performed many breast examinations in my day, highly recommends that not withstanding the governmental noise, women check early and often! Save the Tatas! And perhaps, your life!

It seems to me that this is an example of where Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, through arms of the government, are already choosing a level in healthcare where winners and losers collide. Market forces, you and your physician should be the ones making these decisions, not bureaucrats, or as Sarah Palin accurately pointed out, death panels, with hidden agendas.

Speaking of hidden agendas in the health care abomination, Sean Hannity discusses the topic with SE Cupp and the very, very lovely Kimberly Guilfoyle. Take listen: