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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 26, 2009
/ 9 Kislev 5770
The true cost of freedom from anxiety
By
Michael Smerconish
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Give me anxiety or give me death. If Patrick Henry were watching last week's new wrinkle in the debate over national health care, he'd have said something like that.
You can move aside the battle over single-payer systems, covering illegal immigrants or even abortions. After months of consternation over the direction of health-care reform, something called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force kicked off a real debate last week by suggesting that women ages 40 to 49 should not automatically be screened for breast cancer, that women 50 and older get mammograms every other year, and downplaying the need for self-exams.
Seven years ago, the task force recommended that women ages 40 to 49 get regular mammograms, and that women from 50 and 74 schedule them annually.
The consternation is understandable. The new recommendations seem like a legitimate motion to ration health care.
Why?
Consider the reasoning behind the changes. Proponents said they would reduce the unnecessary dangers — expenses, pain, or anxiety caused by false positives or more frequent testing and follow-up — to younger women who get regular mammograms. Women in their 40s are more likely to experience those harms, but they're significantly less likely to actually be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Though the panel said it didn't take costs into account, there's also an undeniable financial effect of the shift as well. Approximately 37 million mammograms are administered every year. Each one costs about $100. So reducing the number of mammograms could result in billions of dollars in savings.
But as Marie Savard, former director of the Center for Women's Health at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and an ABC News medical contributor, pointed out to me last week, nobody is suggesting that mammography isn't a lifesaving tool for thousands of women younger than 50. So encouraging fewer mammograms — and thus less anxiety and patient costs — means putting some women at greater risk.
"We know that it saves lives. I just can't imagine that they're willing to look at numbers and evaluate death vs. cost of treatment. That's basically what they're doing," Savard said in an interview. "They put on one side death, and they weighed on the other side cost of treatment. And they didn't feel it was justified."
That doesn't make this the health-care cabal that President Obama's conservative critics have been predicting for months. The guidelines of an expert panel don't equate to concrete changes in federal policy. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius assured the country that the task force "is an outside independent panel" that doesn't "set federal policy and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government."
But the new guidelines could potentially cause insurers to change how they cover annual mammograms. Managed-care organizations might decide to stop rating doctors based on whether they performed mammograms on women under 50. And it's possible that Medicare, which Savard said "follows this government panel to the letter for the most part," would no longer cover annual mammograms — even for women older than 50.
It has happened before. The same task force concluded last year that virtual colonoscopies, which use CAT scans, were an insufficient means of screening men for colon cancer. In part because of that recommendation, Medicare stopped covering them as an alternative to conventional colonoscopies. Similarly, this year's recommendation that doctors not teach women to administer breast self-exams only heightened the concerns of many that the guidelines could imperil potential breast-cancer victims.
"They're looking at statistics and they're looking at numbers when, as physicians and health-care providers, we're looking at patients and we're looking at faces. And those women have names and families and it's a very different issue," Beth DuPree, a breast surgeon and medical director of the Breast Health Program at Holy Redeemer Hospital, told me last week.
That's true, and it's a calculation that affects men as well. Six years ago, I had a full-body scan at a newly opened private facility because it had recently become a radio advertiser of mine and wanted to showcase its services. I had the test despite lacking any symptoms.
The scan revealed "an approximately 2 mm nodule see in the lingular segment of the lung peripherally." The report came just as a friend, a fellow cigar smoker, was dying of lung cancer. The finding, if that is what it was, was frightening and necessitated additional intervention.
My primary care physician referred me to a pulmonologist, who in turn ordered a CAT scan of my chest (which was then to be repeated annually for two years). Where my insurance company hadn't covered the initial full-body scan, it was now on the hook for the cost of this subsequent care.
I knew that at the end of the monitoring I would either thank the radio sales manager who arranged the body scan for having saved my life, or curse him for causing me concern (and costing my insurance company thousands of dollars).
Thankfully it was the latter. Still, I'd take the anxiety that comes with a false alarm over a missed opportunity for intervention anytime. Just like the women who've grown accustomed to having mammograms starting at age 40.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Previously:
10/27/09 If GOP wants to win in 2012, it must reshape its primary process
10/08/09 It's time to get smarter on extended school day
09/03/09 What a summer of eulogizing flawed public figures reveals about society
08/12/09 It's time for cyclists and motorists to reconcile
08/05/09 Faces have changed, but vitriol remains
06/25/09 Fair comment or foul? Warm up the Muzzle Meter
06/08/09 Believability is key in crime-hoax villains
05/14/09 Did Hollywood inspire the meltdown men?
04/20/09 Let's give killers their due: Anonymity
03/12/09 Uninsured who can't afford medical care lose a lot more
02/06/09 My debate with Musharraf on hunt for bin Laden
01/29/09 Torture must remain an option
01/15/09 Making a case for suing Madoff
12/22/08 A difficult but rational chat about plans
12/17/08 Facebook epidemic: More than 120 million have joined, many too old for this nonsense
12/01/08 The high price of downsizing the news biz
11/14/08 Prescience on greed, arrogance of a system
09/29/08 Closer look at party lines
08/26/08 Obama's pick creates GOP opportunity
08/21/08 Fishing with the Angry Everyman
07/31/08 The perils of e-mail: Ponder, then click
05/22/08 Two very different sides of the Internet
02/12/08 Sublimely ridiculous suits
11/28/08 Cell phones cut out secondary circle of kinship
09/26/07 What do we owe those who have died in Iraq?
08/30/07 A Navy SEAL's gut-wrenching tale of survival
07/30/07 First it was a faux pas, now it's a new word
© 2008, The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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