I saw something very disturbing on the news today. It seems that the guidelines for autism have been changed so fewer people can be diagnosed with it. Now, if you have so much as an average I.Q. You don't qualify as autistic and insurance will not cover the associated costs for medications and treatments.

Breast exams are now recommended less frequently. So are prostate exams. So is the colonoscopy.

It has been said that, "The medical community has new findings..." I hear that regularly, but that isn't true, is it? My question is, are the insurance companies paying the medical profession to recommend less testing and more strict guidelines to determine illnesses in order to limit benefit payouts?

My reasoning is the insurance companies want to maximize profits (everybody does). So it seems that they pay medical "experts" a little extra money to publicize less frequent exams under the assumption that the public will hear the news and take heed. No medical doctor would ever suggest less frequent exams to their patients. That would be a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, wouldn't it?

Are insurance companies trying to kill a bunch of people just to increase their multi-billion dollar profits? What's next? Will cancer and diabetes no longer be defined as diseases?

I definitely feel your pain. I work in a cancer clinic and we have literally thousands of insurance denials for our cancer patients each week because the insurance companies dispute their diagnoses. They question the tests ordered, medications, therapies, etc. etc. etc. Yes, its largely profit-based but they'll never concede to that fact.

Unfortunately, I think its all precipitous of the coming National HealthCare system. Things will become more "lax" to help redirect the excessive cost, etc. and "pass the buck" so to speak. National health care eliminates competition but competition can be healthy in this situation. If you're not getting proper treatment, you go to another doc, right? If you don't have that choice eventually all docs will fall into the same rut and one won't be any better than the rest.

There are lots of hands in the pot. For instance, chemotherapy drugs can literally cost between $0.02 to $8,100.00 per vial. Of course they all have their own indications and usages but the insurance companies resist covering the more expensive drugs, (even if that's all that is made for a particular type of cancer) including the ones that cost only pennies. Therefore, patients cannot get drug (can't afford it) and manufacturing dries up, forcing a battle between supply/demand which goes right back to increasing the price and the likelihood that insurances will cover costs. Add celebrities and such being paid to hawk these high-priced Rx and that's part of the hike in price. It's a national crisis, no doubt.

The issue is not as much the profit of the company, as also, the ability for the people to afford to pay for their insurance. I know I had to drop my insurance this year. It went from 400 dollars a month two years ago, to about 900 a month, this year. * and they even reduced the coverage.

It is like or compared often to buying car insurance, they don't pay for oil charges or new lights, only major accidents. Thus with health insurance.

Also different groups fund research, often it is the drug companies, who of course have their own agenda for drugs. So almost all research has hoped for results.