The
US Preventive Services Task Force is an independent body authorized by Congress to make “evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, or preventive medications.” And since the onset of Obamacare discussions, the Task Force recommendations for treatment and screening have become less and less generous. In November 2009, the Task Force recommended that mammography for women every other year between the ages of 50 and 74. They admit that they have insufficient information to suggest that it would be fruitless to screen after 74, and they say that case-by-case screenings should take place before 50.
The Mayo Clinic, by contrast, recommends annual mammograms for women above age 40; so too does the American Cancer Society. As
Dr. Sandhya Pruthi of the Mayo Clinic writes, “Findings from a large study in Sweden of women in their 40s who underwent screening mammograms showed a decrease in breast cancer deaths by 29 percent.”
Then there are colonoscopies: the
Task Force recommends against routine colonoscopies for adults 76 to 85 years of age, and recommends against screening at all beyond age 85. The American Cancer Society and American College of Gastroenterology, by contrast,
do not give an age limit for colonoscopies. Medicare, coincidentally,
happens not to cover CT colonography but fully covers colonoscopies. A great way to cut costs: tell doctors not to give colonoscopies.
How about prostate cancer? The USPSTF completely
recommends against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer. Every other major organization says that patients should make that decision with their doctor;
the Mayo Clinic recommends “offering PSA screening and DRE annually to men ages 50 to 75 with a life expectancy greater than 10 years.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/11/11/Death-panels-coming
