As a breast cancer survivor, I was shocked when the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force made an outrageous announcement that women should start getting routine, annual mammograms at age 50, not 40. Several experts disagree:

“But the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology and other experts condemned the change, saying the benefits of routine mammography have been clearly demonstrated and play a key role in reducing the number of mastectomies and the death toll from one of the most common cancers. ‘Tens of thousands of lives are being saved by mammography screening, and these idiots want to do away with it,’ said Daniel B. Kopans, a radiology professor at Harvard Medical School. ‘It's crazy -- unethical, really.’”

While it’s only a “recommendation,” this should be a warning to all women as a preview of what’s to come if the Democrats pass their government-run health care experiment. Why? This federal panel is doing what’s called Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) and it’s a big part of the Democrats’ health care experiment. In order to rein in health care spending costs, they want to beef up government panels just like this U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and empower them to make all sorts of decisions. Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Hanns Kutter explains how this research leads to rationing:

“The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gets a special role in the politicization of health insurance in the House-passed health-reform bill. Section 222, ‘Essential Benefits Package Defined,’ says all health plans in America must cover services that get a grade of ‘A’ or ‘B’ from the task force. The task force now gives routine screening mammography for women aged 40 to 49 a ‘C’ grade. (‘The USPFTF recommends against routinely providing the service.’)”

In other words, your doctor doesn’t have to take the government’s advice today, but he or she won’t have that option if the Democrats are successful. Sound far-fetched? Similar boards in the United Kingdom do it all the time.

All Americans, especially women, should call their Congressman or Congresswoman today at 202-224-3121 and tell them to stop this government takeover of potentially life-saving treatments and procedures.