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Feds' cancer screening guidelines draw bipartisan fire
A bipartisan group of male lawmakers on Wednesday urged federal regulators to reject draft guidelines that would curtail healthy men's access to prostate cancer tests.
The House members oppose the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation that healthy men under the age of 75 who have no symptoms forgo prostate cancer screening. The recommendation matters because it excludes the test from the list of preventive services that insurers have to cover free of charge under the healthcare reform law.
Lawmakers have been pushing back against the recommendation, saying it values the cost of false positives and complications from subsequent biopsies more than it does the improved quality of life of men whose cancers are caught early. The mortality rate from prostate cancer has dropped 40 percent since the screening test was made widely available in 1992.
"We need to change the attitudes going on in the administration right now," said Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.).
The lawmakers were particularly concerned that the task force made its recommendation "regardless ... of race and family history." They say black men, people with a family history of the illness and veterans exposed to Agent Orange were more at risk and shouldn't be lumped with the general population.
The pushback comes after women across the country ripped into the task force when it came out against routine mammograms for women in their 40s. The National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society still recommend routine screenings for women starting at age 40.
