Will you follow the new advice and wait until age 50 to start getting mammograms?

I think it's no coincidence that the panel for the nationalized health care plan that they are trying to shove down our throats want it at 50 instead. Guys...you're kidding yourself if you think this bill is going to be good - we will see more and more things like this - putting off mammograms by 10 years - how many people posted on here, like the person above, that they would probably be dead. We need to seriously look at this bill!!!!!!

My sister was 44 when she died of breast cancer. Mammograms are necessary to have for all women. I started my mammograms at the age of 38, and I did skip last year, and got chewed out by my doctor. She said, "You should never skip having your mammogram every year, especially in your family history. Women need to be vigilant about this."

Who do we contact to voice concern with this task force!? We better check this bill throughly! This is dangerous to all women, and whoever is on this task force is dangerous and ignorant.

I don't know who to contact - the gov't (this was a gov't panel) doesn't give a rat's a** what we think - if you read the article it also talks about Britian allowing one every 3 years - oh yeah, they have socialized medicine - but according to the gov't and the liberal media, everything runs fine in those countries. Would you all be OK with only getting a mammogram every 3 years? I'm telling you - we need to talk to our neighbors, co-workers, etc., about this bill

It's a shame that these doctors can't do our dying for us. My mother passed away suddenly and since she had never had a mammogram (!), I scheduled one at age 35 to get a baseline. If men got breast cancer at the same rate women do, annual mammograms would be a given.

They have not passed the health care bill and they are already telling you what you do and not do. Death to all that get breast cancer, that's what this article is telling you. How much more are you people going to take, before you take to the streets?

United health care is behind this they and AARP will be the big winners when health care is passed.

This is how the government will ration healthcare. I have seen this before in socialized medicine. They will continue to use propaganda to push their agenda.

I think this is the first of what to expect when the Government runs health care. Save money, not lives.

Socialized healthcare here we come....already the Government thinks they know better than the American Cancer Society.....I've had too many girlfriends be diagnosed with it.....one didn't make it and only 40 yrs. old....one did but massive masectomy and treatments @ 47.....don't play russian roulette with your life....you only get one! thats it! Thermography is a good alternative... have to research it myself....find out more....but i was told that flying in an airplane-u get the same exposure if not more, (to radiation),....does anyone know if that is true? Take ur Vit. D it is not only good for Flu season but also for breast health. I.E. You get adequate Vit. D from the sun during the summer....thus very few colds/flus....Sun goes away and so does Vit. D. in winter months....thats how i look at it....and if it benefits my breasts...hey thats a plus!

This is insane!! This government panel says not to do what we have been doing and has been working? What is wrong with this picture?

Did anyone who replied to survivor-1470875's post actually read the article? Or even the title for that matter? Its called, "New Advice: Wait until 50 for Mammograms." Key word: advice. Not laws, not regulations, but advice. If you want to start getting regular mammograms at 40, by all means, go for it. And not once in the entire article is the health care reform law that is currently working its way through Congress mentioned. Not ONCE.

Yes I read the article and we all know that when it starts out as "NEW ADVICE" that it will be on a bill and because those people have the best health care given to them they could care less about us little people. We all know that this will eventually be in there Wonderful Health Care Bill.

Yes, I read the article, and this panel's "advice" is what insurance policies are built around. Sure, I can go get a mammo anytime I want, but who can afford that? I thought that's why I paid for health insurance?

I just don't understand. They're not suggesting using another method that works better. They're suggesting not using any method at all! Not even self exams!! What's next, no paps because of the false postives there? How about no colonoscopies or prostate exams?? Those give false positives all the time.

If the radiation is really a problem then why not stop routine dental exams? I mean if its that dangerous maybe I should stop taking my son the the dentist!

They're excuses just do not mkae sense for any logical thinking person. And for anyone who thinks this is just a "recommendation" pay attention to what kinds of policies, both public and private, previous "recommendations" like this have intiated.

yes,when I lived in England I was told to wait 18 months for the next mammogram I then moved to Italy where I was told to having done sooner and guess what... I had a carcinoma on my right breast, it was small and did not penetrate (in situ) giving me complete chance of recovery. I am only 43!!

Sage-916744

" Key word: advice. Not laws, not regulations, but advice. If you want to start getting regular mammograms at 40, by all means, go for it"

The problem is that insurance companies can now say they will not pay for mammograms until 50. Which means many will die and they do not care!

The recently-passed House bill establishes a 19-member "Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission" which will gather research to be used to clinically manage patient care by determining what care is effective and appropriate. It will also creat a massive database with patient names, diseases, treatments, and outcomes. THIS IS JUST THE START!!

dburger - You are wrong. Most every state mandates that insurance companies provide coverage for routine mammograms according to ACS guidelines. As well as routine pap smears, and more recently, prostate screenings.

People people people...

The INSURANCE COMPANIES are behind this. This has nothing to do with gov't reform. The INSURANCE COMPANIES lobby this agency to go the way they want them to go. They then conveniently form their coverage policies to go along with this gov't agency.

Trust me, it's the way it works.

justthefacts

You and many other posters here are either extremely naive, ignorant or just Republicans looking to blame Democrats. The fact that this comes out so soon after the passage of the house bill makes it smell republican "health" insurance company to me. The bill will be loaded with so many amendments

whose only purpose is to prevent passage or it if does pass to make insurance companies even wealthier. This is not a government recommendation- it's some rich republican's idea of working the system to make more money. Greed will kill all of us although with me it's like secondary smoke- I have no money.

BJ and Jim - Paragraph 3: "government task force." Paragraph 7: "government panel of doctors and scientists." Paragraph 9: "U.S. Preventive Services Task Force".. based the guidelines on "mathematical models of what would happen if women were screened at different ages and time intervals."

Read the article, use a dictionary for the big words. You're the ignorant one here dude.

This is not a government recommendation- it's some rich republican's idea of working the system to make more money.

JimC, I guess you missed the part of the article, which justthefacts pointed out, that this is not an agency, or a Repulican PAC, or an insurance study. This is a government task force. As all the liberals love to keep reminding us, the Democrats are in charge; therefore, this panel - ahem, *task force* - was probably commissioned by the Democrats. There is nothing wrong with doing SBE to try and catch cancer.

I am sickened by the government suggesting women do less to protect themselves, and also by their phrasing "unneeded biopsies." I'm sorry, but is a biopsy only a good idea when it actually catches a cancer? All the biopsies telling women they are safe from cancer are "unneeded?" Unbelievable.

"The advice" from these independent scientist are giving insurance companies the go-a-head to make adjustments to their insurance policies. What if you have a family history of breast cancer and they don't cover your cost and treatments because you have a pre-existing condition? What if you never had breast cancer, but you get it, and your insurance says you have a pre-existing condition like a benign tumor on your ovary and they refuse to cover most of your treatments?

There all families where most of the women had breast cancer, and here in the NorthEast, especially in NY, there are a lot of women who had or have breast cancer or forms of it. I have fifty friends, outside of my family, and 20 of them at different ages had or are fighting breast cancer, and my friends have friends and families, or know of someone who has breast cancer. When I went to my screening their was even a man who was in the waiting room. He had a form of breast cancer.

Where all they collecting this data? I'm just reduced to tears. I'm worried that the health insurance companies are going to take away coverage from people who don't have a history of it.

The advice is for women over 50 to go every other year for a screening. Hogwash.

Also I didn't like Dr. Nancy's comment saying, "They are making women attack their breast in those self examinations. That your breast are your enemy?"(I'm paraphrasing a little, but she did say those things)

Who says stupid and irresponsible comments like that? And who's they? Nobody said ' boobs are the enemies. My husband likes saying this: "Save the boobies, save womenkind."

Chris:
This is no more an attempt to regulate exams, than me having penis surgery!! I'm a female and have been all my life and will be until I die. You GOP's will think of anything to scare the wits out of people!! Disgusing!!!

This is a task force made up of private sector experts that make recommendations. They don't tell you what to do. The Health care bill will not make decisions for you or your doctors. However, if more screening is occurring than is needed then it drives up the cost of health care. Obviously, this is a decision that needs to stay between the gal and her doctor.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984, and since 1998 sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The USPSTF conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the "gold standard" for clinical preventive services.

cjn - you have no idea my political affiliation - and BTW it's not Repulican dummy - just because I said liberal media???? Are you saying that they're not?? That's the typical liberal comeback when you don't have anything more intelligent to say about the issue - don't know why I'm even surprised.

Eric - go back and read the article - they are making recommendations to the GOV'T regarding Medicare payments - do you really believe that other insurance companies aren't going to try to use these "RECOMMENDATIONS" to not pay for them before 50 and that the health care bill (have you read it - all 1,100 pages of it) won't try to use it too - you are fooling yourself. I haven't read the whole bill (it's so ridiculously written) but I have read big sections of it, and it's scary!!

Another article I read said that of the 16 members of this panel, not one is an oncologist. And if you read other articles, you will find that the recommendations of this panel are often adopted as policy. Also consider the odds that any panel appointed/hired by a government agency is likely to share the same reasonings & opinions.

I'm forming a new community organization to support Obama, the WBTAFFO:

Women Between Thirty-five And Forty-nine For Obama.

This new organization will go door to door to support the greatest President in history.

Who's in?

Herb

The bill that passed the house will not be national health care- can't you read?

There may be a small public option but "if you like your present insurance- keep it". Didn't you hear that part? We are not going to single payer, although that would be great for this country to get the greedy insurance companies shut down.

JimC - Go away dude. I read a lot of the House bill. You're wrong, Herb's right. You have no clue what's in store for you. Or is Koolaid the new placebo?

Thank you! I have had 2 mammograms...one at 38 and all clear then one at 40 and guess what...Breast Cancer! No history in family of any cancer! No risk factors! Was very aggressive and the cancer was spreading out of the gland! Waiting just a few months would have made a difference between my three young children being raised without a mother or a year and a half of surgery and chemo. It was tough but I AM STILL ALIVE! If you take the attitude that it will not happened to me or just want to stick you head in the sand I only can pray for you! But I don’t want anyone or any government telling me when I can or can’t start screening! I am happy to be alive and still fighting to stay that way...Knowledge is power and time is of the essence!

Some breast cancers grow so slowly that they will never be problem in your lifetime. One reason they treat every positive so agressively is because of defensive medicine, where there afraid thell get sued if they do nothing.

I guess no one ever told you those killer words, you have cancer.

I agree. Let the Toms of this world start getting it, you bet it would be covered, cradle to grave. God save us.

Welcome to the concept of government run health care:

"the government panel of doctors and scientists concluded..."

You can quickly see the number of women that would have died had they saved the system some money by waiting until 50.

Anything to cut costs, even if it means escorting people to their graves.

Right, you doctor tells you that you have cancer, but it is slow-growing and so go home because it won't kill you. Try sleeping after that news. I am a counselor for women with breast cancer (and a survivor) and I have never heard of "slow growing cancer." The fact is that even cancers that are not deemed aggressive can change and often do change. I would be dead if I hadn't had mammograms in my 40's even though I was not diagnosed until 52 -- because the lesion was so small that it would likely have been overlooked had the radiologist not been able to compare my films with previous years. We are women, not numbers in a "mathmatical model."

Vickie - I totally agree! I have no family history of this disease and my only risk factor was the fact that I did not have any children. I am a Medical Technologist and I have a Master's degree with research in the field of pathology. I want every woman to have the option of knowing what the mass is - cancerous or benign. If I would have followed the Task Force guidelines (every 2 years ages 50 - 60), would my cancerous tumor still have been small enough for just a lumpectomy and radiation? I doubt it! I have worked with "data" my whole adult life. Funny, its no longer just numbers on a page when you hear the words, "You have cancer."

Thank God you did find it but these pin headd don't recommend you even do self examinations. Absurd why not do self exams? Do they just not want us to find the lump until it is untreatable?? It seams that way to me!!

dburger

I couldn't belive someone could misread the article the way you did until I got to your last sentence and saw that you spelled seems as "seams". There are too many ignorant people with computers starting rumors based on their ignorance. There was no mention of self-exams- this was not a comprehensive article on breast cancer it was the recommendation of somone paid by a "health" insurance company who sold out- it hasn't been approved but if it is it will be because of the millions that "health " insurance companies pay congressmen to vote against those they represent- they represent the government-poorly- and you -poorly- they are not the government- vote out anyone taking money from health insurance companies- e.g. Baucus, Lieberman, Grassley and all the others.

JimC 'how ignorant I am' - Paragraph 3: .."the panel said breast self-exams do no good, and women shouldn't be taught to do them."

I don't think JimC has been reading the same article as the rest of us. Quite easy to do when someone just blindly follows what the party in charge says and does - makes it hard to find the truth. This article leaves little room for error.

To paraphrase - don't do self-exams, because they do no good.

Don't get a mammorgram before age 50, because the cost-benefit analysis says that saving "so few" lives isn't worth it.

Don't get mammos before 50 unless you have a family history, even though many women get breast cancer with no family history.

Yea right. I don't trust this panel as far as I can through them. I've been doing Relay for Life for 2 years now, THEY are the ones I will trust when it comes to preventing cancer.

In fact, the vast majority of women who get breast cancer have no family history. And "risk factors"? I had exactly one -- no children. But then it turned out my cancer was not hormone driven (ER/PR negative), so being childless had nothing to do with it. It's a crapshoot and your best bet is to aim for early detection.

Good luck.

Why? Because it hurt a little for a few moments? Trust me, it doesn't hurt as much as recovery from surgery, sickness from chemo, "sunburn" from radiation, and all of the emotional upset.

You're being very foolish. But it's your life -- even though it could be a very short one.

You're kidding , right?? Hope you don't have any children or someone that may need you, because you may be gone sooner than you think. I don't like going to the DENTIST either! However, I DO LIKE MY TEETH!

Kim - with the new digital mammograms, and newer radiology techs -- they are not trained the same way they used to be several years ago. They don't have to "tighten til your eyeballs pop" any more. Seriously - find a place with the new digital technology and ask for someone that has more recent training.. My husband asked me how painful it was on a scale of 1-10. I told him it wasn't painful at all. It was maybe a 1 on my "discomfort" scale. I really hope you reconsider...

You are added to my prayers. I had an unpalpable 5 cm lump and the mammo at age 40 saved my life, enabled me to raise my kids, and has given me another 21 productive years as a public school teacher. This is a thinly veiled attempt to push the most healthy, productive nation in the world into the false belief that we would be better off if we would join with the credos of the rest of the world. Sorry, I refuse to give in to this bologna without speaking up!

What a pity. For a few minutes of discomfort? Yah. I'm hoping nobody is counting on you too terribly much.

I suppose you wouldn't have an xray if you thought perhaps your wrist was broken?????????? Go out in public with the flu????????????

We can only pray for you! With that attitude I would be dead! My three children would be in need of a new mother!

I was just diagnosed 6 months ago at age 45, and no family history (which account for less than 20% of BCs!). I have no risk factors; I am thin and work out 5 days a week. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies and rarely eat meat. I drink alcohol, but maybe a glass of wine or a mixed drink once or twice a week. So if I had followed these guidelines I may have not seen my 50th BD. These new "guidelines" make me furious!

Thermography is a great tool; it can predict patterns that show if a tumor is starting to grow, years in advance in some cases. I would only use it, and then if it showed something irregular, then get a mammogram. Mammograms are not safe. If they were, why doesn't the tech stay in the room, not behind a partition, with you?

The reason the tech is behind a partition, it that she is doing this all day long - 5 days a week. You are getting a small amount of radiation once a year if you are only having a screening exam. They don't even do as many views as when I trained to do them 30 years ago and with much less radiation needed and less pressure needed.

Oh Please when the dentist takes x-rays of my teeth they never used to stay in the room either. I just had my annual mammogram this past August and guess what the tech was right there in the room with me and I got to see the results on her computer screen. Guess you need to find a more up to date place to get your mammos.

I guess it would depend on the equipment used. It's possible, Annie, that the tech was being a bit reckless too.

Over time, the exposure to the radiation can cause big problems for the techs, so that is the biggest reason why they go behind a partition.

You all have hit it on the nail!

"We need to help each other"

I thank GOD that Susan Love wasn't my doctor - as I said earlier because of self exam's I found my cancer at age 44 - if I had used this so called "undisputed" expert I would be dead. Saying self exams are not necessary is criminal.

Obviously, CatTrax hasn't been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Not all Breast or prostate cancers warrent agressive treatment, some grow so slowly, they will never be a problem. There are also many false positives in the testing.

My cancer was NOT slow growing - it was growing fast - so should I have waited to see? I'm not worried one bit about a false positive - I'm worried about my accurate positive!

You're right Tom, except you won't know what type of cancer you have unless it's DETECTED and BIOPSIED. Or you can just wing it and hope to heck it's slow growing......

Tom47, you're very glib with your advice regarding a condition you will likely never get. Let's talk about erectile dysfunction or prostate cancer. You going to let it grow, unchecked? You going to go without because you're not deemed valuable enough to "fix?"

No, you'd do what Britons do. If they can afford it, they circumvent the "free" public option and PAY for private care. Hope

I guess you or no one in your family has ever been diagnosed with this terrible disease. I sure hope and pray you don't ever have to watch someone you love die with this disease.

I saw her too and I didn't believe a word she said. She was probably paid by the government for her endorsement. What a crock!

I wonder just how many of these so called experts would be pushing this if they were ever diagnosed with Cancer. These guys are all out for the money, and the insurance companies just line their pockets more when they have to reimburse less.

As a 3 year survivor at 51, I'm thankful I had access to a yearly mammo from 38. I missed one year and poof, there it was, but I'm alive today becasue it was found before I turned 50.

With Obama trying to force heath care reform down everyones throats, it would be interesting to find out how his views would change if his wife were diagnosed with breast cancer, or one of his children with a rare disease, although this would not affect them since they (congress included) have a completely different medical plan and all would be covered anyway.

Again, I'm going to type this slowly. The INSURANCE COMPANIES have been lobbying the government for YEARS to come up with this recommendation. They don't want to pay for this.

They will conveniently adjust their benefits after this recommendation that they lobbied for.

Yes, it IS the way it works.

You're an idiot....

Your the idiot

I agree with Steven's statement - under Obama's new healthcare plan, many more will die. Seems to be fact....

How is it you figure that with health insurance available to everyone, more will die? That simply makes no sense! How many women do you think go without mammograms because they have no insurance? Plenty! Same with all other types of screening and regular checkups.

Wake up Jayell - someone has to pay for those who can not...services with go down for all - plain and simple - so mistakes will be made and it could be you or me who will pay the price when they miss it on our tests that arent covered anymore. Penny wise - pound foolish!

God help us...oh thats right we arent suppose to talk about THAT either HA the whole world is heading to hell in a hand basket.

Keep voting these idiots into office!

I don't know where you live JayEll but in my SC town every year they have a mobile unit that visits the area for a couple of days and gives free mammograms for women that can't otherwise afford them. Seems to me those poor women without health care insurance can take advantage of this FREE OPPORTUNITY. This service was also available when I lived in Maryland among other services like testing for high cholestoral, bone density to name just a few screenings.

Annie we have free mammograms here in Tennessee Also!

Right. The current system works SO WELL!!

Hello!!! The insurance companies are behind this action. They lobby for these kind of recommendations.

Obama is the idiot.. and all of the blind followers that are STILL clinging to his promise of hope and change.. WELL.. You're getting it a DOSE at a time. This is just the beginning.

If the comment before was seen as a person upset.

You are right!!

You can count that someone got a HUGE payday on this one! And these are adults mostly. What will they take away from our children if they were to become sick?