Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You…
Late last Friday, the US Preventive Services Task Force released its draft recommendations regarding prostate cancer screening, and the report prompted reactions from across the health policy community all weekend. The New York Times reported that insurers were already re-evaluating whether or not to cover screening tests in light of the draft recommendations. Given all this, it’s worth reviewing the impact of the new powers given to the Preventive Services Task Force in Obamacare, and what they could mean for prostate cancer screening.
In other words, not only was this outcome entirely predictable – Republicans predicted it all along. Empowering a government board will decrease access to preventive care screenings, as insurance companies will likely follow the directives of a federally-backed panel. So rather than keeping choices between patients and doctors, Washington has effectively short-circuited that process, because the rulings of a government board will lead insurance companies to stop covering preventive treatments.
Of course, if you think decreasing access to prostate cancer screening is bad, just wait until Obamacare’s true rationing board – the IPAB, which will make rulings that reduce overall Medicare spending – gets up and running in the years ahead. And on that count as well, don’t say we didn’t warn you ahead of time…