Hubby just has some problems not sure if it is heart of lungs yet the tread mill is next week. But we could not get in to a doctor until sept or Oct so we used urgent care. They ran some labs, and ekg, and checks his vitals the bill was 1100.00 for about 1.5 hours of sitting around in their little room waiting for someone to come back and let him leave. Our share will be 20% of that, on top of my 230.00 per month for our insurance. Last week he visited a Dr, urgent care made him an appointment copd/heart is the concern. This week a treadmill in the morning tormorrow, and the next week another DR visit. I am sure the whole cost will be around 5000, and 20 will be ours. I can not afford to pay the bills with his unemployment as income and my wages as it is. Now I will have medical on top of it to try to pay on top of my healthcare insuranc.. geesh.... In the end, we will not be buying a thing as we have no money thanks to the economy, we will be lucky to pay for the roof over our head which is worth less than what we owe, so we have no equity to fall back on, nothing!! Thanks Wall street....

True preventative care is about what you eat, drink etc and the amount of exercise you get. Tests are invasive, can be inaccurate and give only a few seconds snapshot. They do not prevent anything and in fact, may start illness. Everyone is scared of cancer: why should you be? It is in your body 24/7 in the form of free radicals. We already have a cure - it is called an immune system. Take proper care of your body and for the most part, your immune system will be able to deal with any illness. The HMO's idea of preventative care serves only the HMO's for the most part: they spend far less time with the patient while pulling in money from those expensive tests for their for profit employers. Doctoring should be about the patient, not the business. In fact, doctoring should not be a business. I vote to return it to its former configuration of non-profit, patient based care. It is because Doctoring is a business that it costs so much for medical care. It is why the insurance businesses and HOM's flourish, yet so many people can not afford health care. Returning doctoring to private medical practices would bring down costs. Everyone should pay for their own expenses: those without money are the only ones govt should help. As a teen and into my 20's I had to pay my own medical/dental. I made monthly payments if I could not afford the whole thing. Health care was affordable back then.

How simplistic you make health sound Linda2009! Tell that to the many sufferers and battlers and victims of disease when they had lived the lifestyle you described: they ate right, they drank right, they exercised, etc. If it only were that simple! Are you saying that genetics have no effect on health? Are you saying that the environment even when lifestyle precautions are taken do not impact health? My mother died of cancer that metastasized from breast cancer. I am at risk for breast cancer just from being her daughter but yet a test that indicates if I'm a carrier of this dreaded disease is not covered by insurance. According to you though if I eat right, drink right, and exercise and more I have no need to get armed now to battle this terrorist because as long as I'm feeding my immune system breast cancer will not afflict me.

I agree that doctoring is a business and should be more people oriented. Both health care professionals and the insurance industry need to change their philosophies and become more ethical and remember that what they do is about life and death: good health vs. poor health; pain and suffering vs. health and happiness.

There is no excuse for relying on doctors and insurance to be the solitary entities responsible for good health but when someone needs a preventative tool it shouldn't be denied to them or so expensive that it deters people from using it or bankrupting them that they lead a stressed life trying to pay for it instead of enjoying life.

The immune system is not the cure-all for every disease! Preventive medicine is the way to go. My Mother and Grandmother both died of Colon Cancer and I rely on the colonoscopy test to stay one step ahead of colon cancer since it's highly hereditary. My two brothers had tumors removed because they had their colonoscopies performed. My husbands father died of Prostate Cancer....all three sons had their PSA checked yearly and they all have Prostate Cancer...if not for the DRE and PSA Test their cancer would have spread before they were aware of it. Screenings are important!

Priorities. If someone truly wnats a screening they will find a way to pay for it. We have known for years that physical fitness and eductaion are both determinants of good health. If the government offered free rides and membership to the health club I doubt the number of fit people would rise much.

Screenings and tests should be free and part of the medical exam. Period.