November 20, 2009 (LPAC)—CBS-TV's affiliate in Washington, D.C. did the obvious in its Nov. 18th coverage of the USPSTF taskforce's murderous cost-cutting recommendation that women under 50 not have routine mammogram screening—they followed the money. Not surprising, their researches showed that, in addition to the fact that there was not one oncologist or radiologist on the panel of 16, at least six of the members were linked to HMOs or what is called the "health care industry."
They are: Dr. George Isham, Chief Health Office for Health Partners; Dr. David Grossman, investigator in the research division of Group Health Cooperative; Dr. J. Sanford Schwartz, past executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and on the Blue Shield Medical Advisory Board; Task Force chairman Bruce Nedrow Calonge, chairman of the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, which advises health care organization on "quality improvement;" Dr. Diane Pettiti, a health policy and medical advisor for Kaiser Permanente; and Joy Melnikow, associate medical adviser for Healthwise, a medical knowledgebase company serving insurance companies and others.