One thing about screenings that I always wonder about is that all the recommendations come from a group comprised entirely of those that benefit economically from the tests: product manufacturers and specialized doctors. Do nothing or do simpler tests would be a severe blow their core business.
I recommend you read any of Dr /Nortin Hadler's books.
He talks about the medicalization of the aging process. That to be "well" is not to be without symptoms of morbidity. It is abnormal escape heartburn, heartache, headache, or backache. That to be well is being able to cope with morbidity.
Medicalization is the process by which the morbidity is framed by the personas a medical iliness for which medical treatment could or should be sought. Medicaliztion superimposes a scientific idiom of distress on the common sense. Common sense is n ot common.....it is a sense that is highly susceptible presuppositions, magical thinking, and market pressure. to
He introduced me to the concept of Type II Medical Malpractice.
Type II meical malpractice is doing something to patients very well that is not needed in the first place.
I would also recommend reading "Overtreated" by Shannon Brownlee.
She tells the story of how the federal gov't attempted to drive down doctor fee costs in the medicare program. The federal & state gov't ramped up medical education spending. By 1973 they had double the number of medical school graduates being produced annually. Doctors, being very smart, 1) started becoming specialists in higher numbers as the fees were greater or 2)provide more health care to their patients generating more income. Remember medicare isn't market based. It pays however much treatment is provided. And as a third party is paying; the patient could care less what the ost is.