As the federal government takes control over everyone’s health care, and as it consequently scales everyone’s health care back, it will rarely if ever admit “we are going to let you get sick or die to save money.” No, the government bureaucrats in charge of your health care will tell you that it’s for your own good.
That is, you’re going to see a lot more of this:
On Monday an expert government panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, joined the call by recommending against routine testing with electrocardiograms, or EKGs, in people who have no known risk factors or symptoms of heart disease, like shortness of breath or chest pains.
The recommendations, published online in Annals of Internal Medicine, made the test the latest addition to an expanding list of once routine screening tools that have fallen out of favor. Earlier this year, the task force advised against regular screening with the prostate specific antigen, or P.S.A., blood test, long considered the gold standard for early detection of prostate cancer. The panel has also come out against measures like annual Pap smears for many women and regular mammograms for women in their 40s.
(Via Patterico.)