GOP: Mammography Recommendations a Sign of Things to Come

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2009— -- Controversial new breast cancer screening recommendations are being used as a political football in the health care debate, with Republicans calling them an example of the type of government "rationing" and control over individuals' health decisions that would take place if Democrats succeed in passing a health care reform bill.

"The guidelines that came out this week by the Preventive Services Task Force have a direct link to what would be offered if the House and the Senate bills were to go into law," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week".

The USPSTF guidelines issued last week recommend "against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years."

"For biennial screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years, there is moderate certainty that the net benefit is small," the USPSTF concludes, stating that women in that age range commonly have "false-positive" screening results that can lead to overdiagnosis, psychological harm, unnecessary imaging tests and biopsies in women without cancer.

The decision to start routine screening mammography before the age of 50 years should be "an individual one and take patient context into account, including the patient's values regarding specific benefits and harms," the task force's recommendations summary said. The recommendations were published in the November 2009 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"This is how rationing begins. This is the little toe in the edge of the water," Blackburn said last Wednesday, at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "This is when you start getting a bureaucrat between you and your physician. This is what we have warned about."

Yet, many Democrats say they also disagree with the recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and that there is no requirement in their health care overhaul bills that would force women or their doctors to follow them.