A few thoughts on the USPST

A few quick items on the revision of the breast cancer screening guidelines issued this week....

Obama had nothing to do with it. The USPST is a non-partisan panel made up of primary care physicians. Their recommendations come from work that they've been compiling over a two year period. In fact, the administration explicitly disagreed with their findings.

This has nothing to do with the healthcare reform bill. In a quick visit to wingnuttia on my AM dial, it's pretty clear that Rush, et al are working feverishly to instruct their listeners that this is the first salvo from the death panels and that Obama's true nature as a socialist or something has been exposed.

The findings are based upon science. Basically, the panel recommends that women make their own decisions when it comes to this important issue. It also simply states that statistically the amount of prevention may not be meaningful. That is not to say that women's lives have not been saved by early detection or that it is not a good idea to have a mamo at the age of 40. Rather, women should continue to have mamos at whatever age they would like, knowing full well that if they decide that it may not be necessary, the science says that they are not being irresponsible.

Insurance companies are not in any way bound by this decision. Further, with the American Cancer Society, several high profile cancer hospitals, and the administration in vocal opposition, it would be hard to imagine that insurance companies will change their existing coverages. Further still, in a world with a competitive healthcare system, as envisioned by the Reid legislation, insurers would be incented to provide the most attractive options in this regard, wouldn't they?

My gut tells me that part of the reaction comes from the fact that over the past 8 years, we have been led by an administration that has cynically and amazingly ignored and distorted scientific fact. We endured a President who denied that global warming exists. We witnessed a VP candidate who is convinced that Jesus rode on a dinosaur, and we saw a Senate Majority Leader diagnose a woman in a vegetative state over the TV. It is a long way out of the hole that we've been dug into.

Lastly, do a reverse Glen Beck on the issue and look at it from the conspiratorial point of view. If the dusky hewed Kenyan socialist was intent on stripping us of our healthcare options, could he have picked a worse time to announce this? Wouldn't it have made more sense to change the coverage options after the bill was passed?