Mammograms, public health and your health

The US Preventive Services Task Force changed long-held policy and recommended that women in their 40's not get mammograms.

Here are the specialties of several of members of the US Preventive Services Task Force:

1. State Epidemiologist

2. Biomedical Informatics
   

3. Dean, College of Public Health

4. Community and Family Medicine
   

5. Director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics

6. Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
   

7. Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine

8. Bloomberg School of Public Health,
   

9. Professor of Medicine, Health Management, and Economics

Ed Morrisey of Hot Air - one of the ten best bloggers in the world, without whom Hot Air would suck - made this observation:

What do they have in common? There isn’t a single oncologist among them, at least not as a listed specialty by the USPSTF published roster.

The point isn't that they're not qualified to decide who should get cancer screening because they're not oncologists.

The point is that recommendations like these are PUBLIC HEALTH decisions and that is different from your PERSONAL HEALTH.

It's not oncological it's epidemiological.

The point is that 9 out of 17 of the task force members are public health experts. They made a decision within their field of expertise: PUBLIC HEALTH.

And when the federal government pays for your healthcare they will make all the decisions about YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH, and they won't use YOUR HEALTH as criteria they will use PUBLIC STANDARDS and EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STATISTICS.

As Ed wrote:

If the administration gets its way, the government will be paying for a lot more of these exams when ObamaCare passes. That will put a serious strain on resources, especially since many of the providers will look to avoid dealing with government-managed care and its poor compensation rates.

The motivation for HHS will be to cut costs, not to save lives.

The sudden reversal in six months of the USPSTF, especially after it made such a stink over a relatively minor decline in screening, certainly makes it appear that they have other priorities than life-saving in mind here.

They have public health priorities, your personal health isn't even on the list. They couldn't give a crap about your health.

If you want you and your doctor to maker these decisions then you should oppose government healthcare.

And you should DEMAND that the federal government push for more competition for your healthcare insurance dollars, more tort reform, and shifting the tax break from businesses to families.

That's the GOP plan.
It's better for your health. And your pocketbook.