The number of 47 million w/o medical insurance keeps getting quoted but this number seems to have stayed the same for at least the last 5 years. I believe that this number is significantly higher now and I am one of them. And this number does not include those with only catastrophic insurance who also cannot afford go to a doctor for preventive examinations or care.

I haven’t been to a doctor or dentist in two years because it is just too expensive to pay for the the charges and usual tests without insurance to back you up. The last prostate screening I had was over 2 years ago when I had my last physical exam (I had a medical plan at that time). I have never had a colonoscopy.

If I should develop some serious disease or sickness, by the time it is discovered, it may be because I was rushed to a hospital but will be too far advanced for me to survive it.

Basic health insurance with preventative care should be freely available to all U.S. citizens, regardless of employment!

I worry that in a twist of logic we will generalize a very specific recommendation. I worry that the message will shift from “Men over 75 should not be screened for prostate cancer” to “No-one should be screened for prostate cancer” to (and this is the scariest part) “I shouldn’t be screened for any cancer.”

Every day in the United States more than 100 people die of colorectal cancer because they weren’t screened when they should have been. Every day.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in this country, yet a simple screening will reduce the risk of having this disease by 80% or more.

The debate about prostate cancer screening will go on for a long time. One thing is not debatable though—cancer screening in general, and screening for colon cancer in particular, saves lives.