Bullshit. Seriously.

I try to never write when I’m angry, whether it’s grading papers, drafting court documents, letters, emails, or blog posts. This would be an exception. Because I just read this and I am pissed. Now before anyone starts telling me that’s what rationed health care is all about, let me just preemptively say “bullshit.” I don’t have a problem with rationed health care. If the rationing entity were to say to the public at large, “We will not pay for pap smears until the age of 21 so that we can pay for everyone’s pap smears,” I’m cool with that. I can live with that. Changing the recommendation is a whole different thing.
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer about two months after I turned 22. Both of the doctors I saw agreed that it had been there for a while and was not a new condition. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s comparatively rare in that age group. Especially non-HPV cervical cancer, which is what I had. But telling the public at large that they don’t need to be screened will put the something greater than .2% but less than 14.9% of cervical cancer victims who fall in the 0-21 age category at greater risk for delayed diagnosis – and therefore infertility or even death. Obvious right? (And don’t even get me started on mammograms) The effect here is that not only will young women with insurance not go to their doctors and get their annual pap test, but the women who would have gone to Planned Parenthood or another private organization that does these tests at low cost or free (some are sliding scale for income) are also not going to go because they’ve been told they don’t need to, and lets face it, it’s not exactly fun.
So please, by all means, tell us that a public option in health reform means rationing services and that certain screening procedures will not be paid for relatively low-risk groups. Fine. Then also tell us that low-risk is not the same as no-risk and if at all possible we should be getting ourselves screened for these things anyway. And if you are one of my students and therefore a young person that I care about aged 18-21 and your insurance provider tells you they won’t pay for your pap smear because of this “recommendation,” call me. I will f*ing take care of it. Because that’s bullshit.

Advertisement