The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended that most women only undergo a Pap smear every 3 years starting at age 21, and even less frequently after age 30 if they also are tested for the human papillomavirus with the Pap smears.
A few weeks ago, the OB/Gyns published guidelines advising women to continue having annual pelvic exams. This exam is where a speculum is inserted in the vagina and the physician also feels for abnormalities with his or her hands. The Pap smear part is where a sample of cells is taken from the cervix and sent to a lab for analysis.
This recommendation demonstrates an utter lack of responsibility taken on the part of the gynecologists for the cost of healthcare in the U.S. This recommendation would encourage our healthcare system to spend several billion dollars per year in unnecessary exams. There is absolutely on evidence that these exams a woman with no symptoms in any way
Everyone in the healthcare system, government, and private industry should stand up to these ologists who are trying to scare women to receive services they don’t need, and who are putting their personal well-being above the needs of the American people.
Dr Young it is even worse them that! As a family doctor I do well woman exams but I explain that if you had a hysterectomy for benign reasons you don’t need a pelvic exam or a pap every year. I have had patients that have changed doctors because their gyns have told them I don’t know what I am doing. I have 80 year old women who have had paps for the last 20 years and they haunt had sex in thirty years. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!
Once insurance companies stop paying the doctors will stop doing it!
With the new guidelines for paps/mammograms, patients like myself are now having to argue with doctors over the frequency of the tests and it is not pleasant. I mean, how dare a patient question a doctor? My PCP says every year for paps. They have to put kids through college too. I’m getting a new PCP and only one who will negotiate on things like this.
The big secret is, if a woman wants a prescription for birth control pills, guess what? She has to have an annual well woman exam with pap, and now even blood work. Doesn’t matter if it’s ob/gyn or PCP in my experience. No tests, no prescription. This has been the rule for 25+ years. Women don’t even need a prescription to buy birth control pills at pharmacies in Argentina. Go figure.
There is no valid reason to connect a Pap smear with contraception. Preventing cervical cancer and preventing unwanted pregnancies are two separate issues. All women should feel comfortable arguing with their Gyns or family docs on this issue, and don’t be afraid to leave that doctor if she or he doesn’t relent.