is that we have FAR too many screening tests which identify "abnormalities" which only MIGHT become serious health threats, but which DON'T actually identify which ones can, or should, be treated. And by the time current testing and diagnosis recognizes which tumors and conditions are the real deal... it's too late.
We, as a nation, are over tested, over treated, over medicated and yet... getting sicker.
The only point that I can see for most of this "recommended" testing is that doctors and labs and medical facilities make more money WITHOUT really addressing the genuine HUGE health challenges in our nation of universal access and lifestyle.
What good does a recommendation for testing do if those most at risk are unable to afford the test, or even to have access to a physician to order it?
We, the people, ultimately control the fate of our health care system. If we continue to make suicidal choices (such as smoking, drug and alcohol abuse and being obese) the system will collapse from having too few healthy productive citizens and far too many really sick disabled ones and ANY reform plan is doomed.
We need to completely drop our current "fee for service tradition" and third party, for profit, employment attached insurance. Numerous other countries have systems that are better than ours and can provide us with the data that we need to best rebuild our system, IF we treat this as a serious issue and look at it rationally.
Our diet and sedentary lifestyle is killing MILLIONS of us a year, in numbers far, FAR beyond any potential benefit from these EXPENSIVE and sometimes invasive procedures.
Oftentimes, these "recommendations" are controlled by medical industry groups who stand to benefit a LOT from increased wide spread mandated testing. As long as we have a health care system which rewards and pays for "activity" instead of "health" (which means putting more emphasis on community wide access, prevention, lifestyle, etc) we will continue to spend more and yet be sicker.
My cardiologist orders routine cardiac screenings for me, typically either ultra-sound or stress testing. They show that I have a lousy heart. Yep, we knew that already. One study has shown that a majority of men who suffer serious heart attacks, have "clear" stress tests results, prior to their heart attack.
But the ONLY procedure that actually shows USEFUL information about my heart disease is cardiac catherization. Which is incredibly expensive, invasive and risky. (Which perhaps explains why Dick Cheney has had so many...) My insurance won't cover cardiac C-T scans, which are still pretty expensive and with the significant risks from the additional radiation (I already have lymphoma, so it's a meaningful risk for me..)
There is an even murkier situation in regards to prostate cancer screening.
I am appalled that the present debate about health care has turned into yet another multi-BILLION dollar bail-out for yet another failed system.
We have too much screening without enough "actionable intelligence". We need to put our resources into PREVENTION and HEALTH rather than useless testing and ineffective treatments, which often, are already too late to prevent death and disability.