At the June 29, 2012 anti-Obamacare rally hosted by American For Prosperity, blogger Ari Armstrong captured this short video of Dr. Jill Vecchio explaining how Obamacare will force her to practice substandard medicine.
Pay close attention to her words, starting at 1:00:
According to the government, I can only recommend a screening mammogram for women over 50 every other year until 74, then never again . That violates the American Cancer Society guidelines … The American Cancer Society says every year after the age of 40 until the woman no longer wants to have a mammogram.
Screening mammography has been proven to decrease the number of women who die by breast cancer by 30-40% — just screening mammography. These government rules that I will have to abide by will cause me to violate my Hippocratic Oath. And I won’t do it. I will violate their guidelines every day, many times a day. As a result of that … I will be fined, I won’t be paid …
I will not be practicing medicine when this law takes effect. Neither will thousands of other physicians.
Dr. Vecchio also alluded to possible jail sentences, which could be imposed for failing to follow guidelines on the use of mandatory electronic medical records...
Obamacare will force doctors to choose between their patients and their government paymasters. If Obamacare is not repealed, many doctors will “go Galt” and quit medicine, rather than violate their medical consciences and betray their patients’ trust.
Ask yourself: When the doctors who are willing to practice in their patients’ best interests quit medicine, what kind of doctors will remain?
That wasn't a misprint. You read that right. Obamacare explicitly forbids women over the age of 74 from getting mammograms. It violates the American Cancer Society's guidelines for preventive care.
But, whatever you do, don't call these unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats "Death Panels".
Read the text of the ACA yourself - page 21, line 13 (emphasis added) :
ReplyDeleteNOTHING IN THIS SUBSECTION SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO PROHIBIT a plan or issuer from providing coverage for services in addition to those recommended by United States Preventive Services Task Force or to deny coverage for services that are not recommended by such Task Force.
Screening mammography is a nearly worthless test, unless you are high risk. Here's an article that explains why: link: http://www.delfini.org/Publications/SKEPDOC.15-3_Screening.pdf
ReplyDeleteTalk to your doctor to make sure that you need one. Mammography is NOT a benign test. I have chest wall damage from a botched test. I can't have a mammography even if I wanted one.
For many people, a routine colonoscopy is of dubious value.
Can I say "Boat Payments?!"
We no longer do routine PSA screening in men, because that test was shown to be of dubious value.