“New guidelines for cervical cancer screening say women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended in the past…

“Arriving on the heels of hotly disputed guidelines calling for less use of mammography, the new recommendations might seem like part of a larger plan to slash cancer screening for women. But the timing was coincidental, said Dr. Cheryl B. Iglesia, the chairwoman of a panel in the obstetricians’ group that developed the Pap smear guidelines. The group updates its advice regularly based on new medical information, and Dr. Iglesia said the latest recommendations had been in the works for several years, ‘long before the Obama health plan came into existence.’

She called the timing crazy, uncanny and ‘an unfortunate perfect storm,’ adding, ‘There’s no political agenda with regard to these recommendations.'”

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“Dr. Elizabeth Eden, an obstetrician/gynecologist and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City, disagrees and says it’s another attempt by the government to cut costs on preventative medicine.

“‘I think it’s a bad idea,’ she told Fox News Friday. ‘I think a large number of adolescents are sexually active and by the age of 21 we’re talking about what could be five or six years removed from their first sexual experience.’…

“‘There is no money being saved by not testing,’ Eden said. ‘The test isn’t as expensive as the study suggests. There is severe risk in not testing these women and the article is scaring them away from routine tests that could potentially save their lives.'”

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“Come on, be honest. Don’t you want the federal government to have a complete overview of health care? The potential rationality is stunning. And one thing in this emerging rationality is clear: Although women tend to love the notion of government control more than men do, it is women who will be told they’ll have to cut back. On treatments. And years. You know we’ve been taking more than our share.”

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“We need answers: Is early screening not saving lives? Why do doctors’ groups disagree? Did costs play any role in these decisions to change the recommendations on breast and cervical cancer screenings? We need assurances that everything we’ve heard this week about fewer tests for women’s cancers is a result of patient-focused research and providing the best care for the right reasons, and not because of bureaucratic pressure to control costs.

“Obviously the first thought that comes to mind when hearing of these new recommendations from bureaucratic panels is ‘rationed care.’ It’s fair – and healthy – to ask if that’s what Washington has in mind with a government-controlled takeover of a health care system.”