Dennis Prager opened his radio show today: "This latest announcement that women should not get mammograms until they are 50 is a telling statement of what is in store for you if the House and Senate bills are paid.
"Do you know how many women get cancer who are under 50? Did you know that breast cancer is a more virulent strain prior to 50? The higher likelihood of death?
"And what is the downside to the mammogram procedure? Cost.
"How do you think they are going to save all this money? To the extent they do save money, it will be things like this. Don’t get a mammogram. It saves too much.
"Weren’t we told that preventive care would save all this money? Isn’t this preventive care?
"Societally speaking, preventive care does not save money."
"It is almost impossible to understand what is at stake here and support these bills."
"Has a trial lawyer ever saved your life? How about a drug company?"
About a tenth of medical expenses are due to legal expenses. That’s the same proportion that prescriptions make up.
If you want to know how well government will run healthcare, check out how well they’ve done providing the swine flu vaccine. Vaccine makers can be sued for any problems. What’s their incentive to produce if their pay is limited?
A group of female House Republicans used the upset over new guidelines on breast cancer screening issued by an advisory panel earlier this week to highlight what they view as the dangers of government-administered health care and the Democrats’ bill to revamp the system.
It’s “an example of how government-run decisions could be made,” said Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington State, who gathered other female members of her caucus to condemn the findings on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force, said Monday that women should start regular breast cancer screening at age 50, not 40, and that doctors should stop teaching women to examine their breasts on a regular basis.
“This is how rationing began, said Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. “This is the little toe in the water and this is how you start getting health a bureaucrat between you and your health care.”
The women stopped just short of questioning the motives of the government panel as Democrats and the administration look for ways to cut costs should they get their bill through Congress.
“The timing is very curious to me,” Ms. McMorris Rogers said.
The women are joining a chorus of criticism from the medical community, the general public as well as bloggers and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a breast cancer survivor who has cosponsored a bill that would promote the early detection of breast cancer in young women said Tuesday the new guidelines were “very disturbing.”
