Topic Posted by: maggimae
Date Posted: Tue Nov 17 14:13:25 2009
Additional Comments:
A government task force has recommended that women between the ages of 40 and 50 with no family history of breast cancer do not get mammograms and women past the age of 50 get one every other year. They have also reported that self-examination does no good. They say that women find lumps that are not cancerous and this leads causes them to worry and (incidentally) leads to too many unneccesary procedures.
I predict it will not be long before these will be guidelines adopted by medicare and insurance companies and will be what they pay for. A good way to cut costs, of course.
Posted by: Katnim Date posted: Fri Nov 20 1:39:04 2009
Message:
My sister in died of breast cancer that had metasisized to her bones 23 years ago. After that I decided to have a mammo every year and one ten years ago found calcifications that when I had a needle biopsy showed they were pre-canceries and I had a partial mastectomy.
Perhaps if I hadn't had that mammo these cells would have turned into lumps and I might have ended up like my sister, since it is well known that the smaller a lump is the better chance of a recovery.
I heard somewhere that were no oncologists on that panel.
Posted by: Mrs. B. Harris Date posted: Thu Nov 19 11:55:50 2009
Message: Your insurance company already rations care. I know mine does. A few years ago my mammogram was inconclusive and they said I needed a diagnostic. Well, the insurance covered the mammogram but wouldn't pay for the diagnostic. I had to pay for it myself. It was several hundred dollars and luckily, I had the money. But I couldn't help but wonder about the women in housekeeping who had the same insurance, paid the same rates for coverage but made half as much. Would they have had the money or would they have had to just pray they didn't have cancer?
Posted by: dolphina Date posted: Thu Nov 19 7:56:24 2009
Message: And the recommendation against self-examination? How is that part of a cost-cutting/rationing plot?
I think we would all do well to remember that no bill has been passed as yet, and the administration desperately wants to pass one. If healthcare rationing was indeed part of a nefarious secret plan, don't you think they would wait to release these findings until AFTER they'd passed their bill?
Posted by: dandyfop Date posted: Wed Nov 18 10:51:39 2009
Message:
What is the problem? Is it because it was a government task force?
Private insurance companies use this same tactic to establish their guidelines and decide when and if something gets paid for. My company pays for its own doctors and nurses to decide if the procedure your doctor says it medically necessary really is. If our docs disagree, you don't get it. Oh, you can appeal- good luck with that.
Our local news highlighted a story just a few nights ago. A person was denied coverage for removal of a brain tumor. She is suffering from migraine headaches and her doctor recommended the procedure. Her insurance denied because no one could prove the procedure would cure the headaches. Her only hope is to appeal.
Nothing new here. On the flip side, my sister found a lump this spring which thankfully was benign. I got my own first mam as a result- I am 37. Mine was clear and my doctor told me that if she were me she would not get another until I was at least 40- unless I felt something. She said repeated exposure to radiation is outweighing the benefit of the screenings her in opinion. I don't think I will take her advice- I will risk it- for at least as long as my insurance company covers it. Which may not be much longer, LOL.
The rationing that people say they fear exists right now and has for decades. In any system where your healthcare decisions are not made by you and your doctor but by some outside entity- particularly one that exists to make a profit- rationing will exist.
Posted by: Roxie Date posted: Tue Nov 17 22:59:29 2009
Message: That is exactly what I was thinking when I heard this on the news. Here we go!
Posted by: Suellen Date posted: Tue Nov 17 21:08:26 2009
Message: I know a woman like that-when she was in her late 50's her mamm. didn't show anything-at that time she could feel a "lump" herself and insisted on another test. She ended up with a mastectomy and the doc commended her for her vigilance. I asked about having the mamm. every 2 yrs instead of yearly and was told if anything was found the second year it could have developed during that yr I didn't have one and insurance would not cover it! It is literally a pain but worth it.
