Here's an interesting little piece I picked up from MSNBC the other day:
"AIDS testing recommended for most Americans: Government wants routine
screening for all between ages 13 and 64"
(http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14938109/)
The CDC in Atlanta is apparently very keen on this idea which clinically may
make some kind of sense but, in the context of the political economy of US
health care, is surely a disaster on an unimaginable scale waiting to
happen?
Given the recent reports by the American College of Emergency Physicians and
the Commonwealth Fund Commission on the generally poor quality of US health
provision, plus the fact that some 43 million-plus US citizens have no
health insurance at all, how is such testing going to do anything except
exacerbate those problems massively?
It would be easy enough to guess at the demographics of the 250,000 people
that are estimated to be HIV positive in the US without knowing it, and
surely it would follow as the night must the day that their chances of
getting health insurance and proper treatment will drop through the floor,
thus worsening the problem? What HMO is going to insure/underwrite anyone if
they've been picked up as HIV positive?
just a thought,
Jon Cloke
Newcastle University
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