Behind the Angst over Mammogram Guidelines
Written by Ann Pietrangelo on November 24th, 2009 in Health Care Policy, In The News, Linked Articles.
Ultimately, decisions about health care — which procedures are warranted and which are not — should be left to doctors and their patients, based on physical exams, family history, and risk factors. When reading about the USPSTF, beyond broad guidelines, that actually does seem to be their intent. In a perfect world, the new general guidelines should be no cause for concern.
So why are women so angry and upset about the new mammogram guidelines? Because it’s not a perfect world and we know from experience that many health care decisions are not made between us and our doctors, but by for-profit insurers. We fear that if they latch on to a new reason to deny coverage of certain procedures, particularly procedures that have to do with that pre-existing condition of being female, it will happen.
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Behind the Angst over Mammogram Guidelines
Photo: U.s. Centers for Disease Control
