Great Danger in “Guidelines”
Nov 17, 2009 Governmental Reach, Health Care, Obama Administration
Today’s news that the U.S. Preventative Task Force has changed its advice that women should start regular mammograms at 50 rather than 40 will surely anger cancer organizations and medical doctors worldwide. The anger should not stop there, however. As we are in the midst of a debate on nationalized health care this has staggering ramifications on the health care that Americans could come to expect under government-controlled health care. Consider two points:
- The “numbers” show that a 40-year-old woman has a .19 percent chance of dying of cancer before she turns 50, so it’s quite reasonable that government-controlled health care will not cover mammograms before the age of 50.
- Groups of people – death panels – will decide what kind of health status of people (including age, likelihood of success, etc.) get treatment and what kind of treatment
When you put these two factors together, you get a health care system that is both deciding you cannot be screened for an illness before a certain age, and then determining whether or not you can be treated if you do get the disease anyway. Your only recourse is to pay for this screening out of your own pocket.
Now this is a true women’s issue, and one that should have all women in this great land very, very afraid of government-controlled health care. Call your Senators now and oppose the public option!
Tags: Health Care, mammogram, public option
