Medical professionals are raising questions about the negative effect the ObamaCare bill could have over medical expenses. Namely, one provision of the bill sets aside about 500 million dollars for comparative research in medical treatments. More exactly, according to the bill studies would be conducted to determine the effectiveness of some treatments over others and the results of such research would help decide what health insurance would pay for or not.
The debate is of similar nature to the one involving the spiral CT scan. In 2007, two studies came to opposite conclusions as to whether this type of scan was prolonging life in cancer patients or not. The spiral CT test is seen by pulmonologists as a much needed medical investigation of lung cancer in smoker patients, as studies have shown that x-rays only are not sufficiently effective in early discovery of cancer.
The spiral CT scan, which allows the doctors to analyze the health state of lungs using computer generated multi-angle images, has continued to be ordered by pulmonologists, while insurance companies refused payment for it. This was because they said the evidence that it saves lives was inconclusive.
To put an end to the controversy a 250 million dollars study was conducted by the National Cancer Institute on more than 50,000 smokers and former smokers, which have been under supervision for eight years. The preliminary results have shown that the group followed with CT scans had 20 percent less deaths caused by cancer and seven percent less from other problems. Basically, the results showed what the medical and patient communities figured before the huge expense of the study.
Now, under the Obamabill, many such tests may be funded and, despite favorable results, the future Medicare Advisory Board might still deny screenings using the evaluated tests and insurance companies may still refuse to pay, medical professional say.
