I have lost two sisters to breast cancer and have a third sibling currently battling the disease yet I have to fight with my HMO to get regularly scheduled exams.
Here is an interesting article where various theories are put forth for the reasons of this announcement.
"...Here are some of their concerns.
* Dr Carol Lee, chairwoman of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission, said she fears insurers -- both private and public -- will use them to pare back health costs.
"These new recommendations seem to reflect a conscious decision to ration care," Lee said in a statement.
She said since the onset of regular mammogram screening in 1990, the death rate from breast cancer, which had been unchanged for the preceding 50 years, has decreased by 30 percent.
* Dr Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the influential group will not change recommendations for routine mammograms for women starting at age 40.
But he is worried that women will become so confused by the conflicting recommendations they will stop getting mammograms altogether. "Frankly, from our point of view that would be the worst possible outcome," Lichtenfeld said in a telephone interview.
* Lichtenfeld and other doctors are worried that insurance companies and government insurers will seize on the recommendations as a way to control rising health costs..."
You can read the rest of the article at http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AF5OS20091116.
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