Health screening has flip side

Tue, 11 Dec 2007

Health insurance companies that promote medical screening could be barking up the wrong tree, according to one professor .

The leading health specialist has launched a full assault against the medical screening industry for their continued promotion of unproven procedures.

The director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine in London, Nicholas Wald, has said that early screening methods are being touted as a preventative method with dubious results. The Professor refers to health ‘MOT’ checks that are inaccurate and cause anxiety.

Wald said that insurance companies are amongst the most serious culprits. He reportedly commented, in the Journal of Medical Screening: "Screening is usually a weak means of providing reassurance because [it] generally misses most cases of the disease for which [it] is carried out ... there is always some harm which is only acceptable if there is also some benefit."

Of particular concern, Wald states, is Saga Insurance .
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.

newsnews rss
healthinsurance news
Small print on health insurance cover - Fri, 22 Aug 2008
Getting health insurance at an earlier age - Thu, 21 Aug 2008
Health tourism guidelines - Mon, 18 Aug 2008
More News
Health Insurance Partners