Comments on: What’s an unnecessary medical test?

By: frank

frank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:24:35 +0000

Well, it looks as though Obama and his Obamacare cronies are the ones that are going to decide who gets to live and who dies in the future...that is unless we stop Nationalized Healthcare... Obama will decide?

By: Thomass

Thomass — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:19:08 +0000

Maddog Says:

“Unnecessary medical tests are any test you would not agree to undergo and pay for if you had to pay out of pocket.”

I completely reject that. Until you have tests, and the resulting diagnosis via testing, you don’t know the consequences of not being diagnosed. You have to have the tests… to make rational decisions.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:30:17 +0000

The Democrats are talking out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand, they are talking up the value of preventitive medicine, and on the other hand they are talking it down.

After all, testing is a form of preventitive medicine. Find out about problems early so thety can be dealt with.

By: Wolla Dalbo

Wolla Dalbo — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:53:28 +0000

In the end this is not all about tests or medical procedures; it is all about who gets to choose, you or the government, it is about individual freedom and democracy or dictatorship, restriction and coercion, it is about taking money and choice from those who have worked to get them, and to redistribute that money to those who have not worked. You have your set of priorities–such as living a life that is meaningful to you as long as possible, or perhaps not prolonging a life that has become unbearable–your choice, the government will have it’s set of priorities–such as reducing health care costs, that really care nothing for you as a unique individual. In a democracy we should be able to put our money where our mouth is and make our own decisions, in a totalitarian state it is the state which decides how much money you are allowed to have, and what you are allowed to use it for; simple as that.

It is more and more glaringly obvious with each passing day that Obama & Co. are for dictatorship, coercion and lies.

By: Maddog

Maddog — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:19:11 +0000

Unnecessary medical tests are any test you would not agree to undergo and pay for if you had to pay out of pocket.

The way to eliminate most but not all is to move people to major medical/high deductable ($3,000 – 5,000) policies.

This is the only way we will ever control medical cost, since the real problem is overuse and second and third party payment based insurance.

Maddog

By: Thomass

Thomass — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:55:57 +0000

Baklava Says:

“Good thing I don’t need malpractice insurance to work on computers… sheesh..”

Heh, I had it. It was called ‘errors and omissions’ insurance. If anyone sued me and said my work caused them a loss (like I screwed up and erased their database or something)… I’d recommend having it.

By: Thomass

Thomass — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:53:25 +0000

Baklava Says:

“OK, That’s my contribution”

Its a good one. Doctors do similar things to isolate problems as computer techs… and your right, with people you have to do a diag flow chart which will mean eliminating possible causes… which will mean doing tests that come up negative before doing the next test…

Same with computers… you start with dumb stuff just to eliminate it (is your power cord in… ok, is it plugged into the wall…)…

By: Thomass

Thomass — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:48:36 +0000

Spot on. The, say, 1 in 400 test is a great thing if your the 1.

Anyway, it’s a ‘first they came for tests’ thing too. A lot of expensive treatments that even insurance pays now have kind of poor statistical results. I mean, my pacemaker cost over $100k after installation (and I don’t mean the bogus hospital bills that are not paid, I mean after the insurance discounts that much money changed hands)…. but statistically, 80% of people with heart failure still die within 5 years (even people under 60, but it goes to 7 years for 80% mortality). So… next, why spend $140k to extend life for a few years when only 20% live longer? After the anti ‘test’ mentality sticks in, how do you make these arguments?

Mine argument is, it is none of your business. 🙂 The fact that government healthcare will make people want to wonder about these things is why we need to keep government out.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:01:10 +0000

As always, Neo gets it: Unnecessary is ex post facto in health care.

The Democratic demagoguery, the gross distortions and the obscene lies, coupled with the fact that they can and will do these things to us all, has reduced me to a state of quiet desperation. The goodness of America is evaporating into the ether, being boiled off by these awful people to whom the benefit of doubt and trust was over-extended.

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:01:32 +0000

My sister works in a medical lab. Several years ago, she had to deal with a rather delicate situation. Someone had gotten their wires crossed, and run some tests on a patient which had not actually been ordered by the patient’s doctor. Normally, this would be merely a financial problem; in this case, however, one of the tests came back positive. My sister then had to explain to the doctor that his patient had a problem which (technically) no one could possibly know about, because it was revealed by an “unnecessary” test.