I've had them done, and would have them done again sometime. They were economical enough and I figure why wait until something happens, possibly without any warning.

Sue

I haven't but I receive marketing materials from them in the mail - just got something today in fact.

Thanks Ruthie for the info

Generally these are not covered by insurance, altho I do not know if covered by Medicare. I suppose if you have the money available, you might also get some of the same services from your own doctor, too.

DH and I had them done several years ago.
The carotid scan showed narrowing so he has been seeing a surgeon every year since then....so far, no change requiring surgery.

No and I never will. Here's why.

Here is a link that might be useful: Usefulness Of Screening

Exactly, Wildchild. These 'screenings' provide new patients for doctors, imho.

Don't bother. My MIL had an all-body CAT scan done. They found she had a "twist" in her intestine and one kidney larger than the other !!! She died of a heart attack less than a year later, at age 82. It's always something!

Medicare does not pay for them as they are screenings...but if you have them done, and they show something wrong, they you can take it to your doctor to have it checked out and Medicare will then pay.

IMO, they are simply tapping into peoples' fear$ & that pay$ off hand$omely for these "low costs" tests.

Wildchild's link is very good & gives very important info. Most people won't bother to even click on it, nor read it.

Here's an excerpt that speaks to an example given as a reason to test:

Ultrasound can show a narrowing of the carotid artery. I guess thatÂs nice to know. ItÂs also nice to know that if you have no symptoms, itÂs probably not going to make a difference. Even if the artery is 60-99% blocked, surgery may only reduce the risk of stroke by 1% a year, and the surgical risks may outweigh any benefit. If you have symptoms from carotid artery narrowing, surgery might be life-saving. But then you probably would have consulted your doctor about the symptoms in the first place instead of going to a church to get a screening test. If you have an asymptomatic narrowing that does not require surgery, you can work on reducing your other risk factors for stroke, but that would be a good idea anyway, even if you didnÂt know what your carotid arteries looked like.

There is other important info in the article. I recommend you to read it & digest what it's saying.

I may be mistaken but I don't think there are any symptoms for blockage of the carotid artery. Friend has had hers cleared twice, first the left then the right years apart.

The first was 95% blocked when it was found during a routine physical. Feel free to correct me if you can prove better info. She is not available to ask at the moment.

Interesting blog post and I pretty much agree. A word of advice though - you can't believe every blog you read on the internet. They're often just people's opinions and don't cite any scientific evidence let alone any based on good research methodology.

I think Lifeline Screening is the result of some entrepreneurial thinking and perhaps making big profits - hard to say. I noticed my dental offices have been "marketing" an oral cancer screening product that I've also declined.

In some cases I tend to agree with insurance companies when they don't pay for something that has no medical evidence to support it. It's a red flag worth considering.

The writer of the blog is Harriet A. Hall, MD, a retired family physician and former Air Force flight surgeon... pretty sound credentials. I'm spurred to read more on her website: http://www.skepdoc.info/ .... looks interesting.

If a physician were to order these tests without some underlying reasons (symptoms, risk factors, etc) s/he would be roundly criticized, & doubly so if the physician did so using a facility or equipment in which s/he stood to gain monetarily.

Breenthumb, you're right carotid artery blockage (stenosis) may not have symptoms. However, a typical family physician can pick up on a reason to order carotid ultrasound simply by assessing a person's risk factors, history, symptoms if present, and by listening with a stethoscope on the carotids. As you said, your friend's was noticed from a routine physical.

It all boils down to why have a medical test when there is no medical indication for having? There are risks associated with unnecessary tests. Let your physician be your guide.

I have good health care coverage and asked my regular doctor about the benefit of some of these tests during a recent physical since some of these tests had not been done on me. I belong to a health cooperative where things like this are covered at no cost to the patient. He said that he would have any of these run that I requested, but first wanted to explain the pros and cons. After I listened to him explain these things, I decided that the benefits to me were marginal at best, and might simply be a source of worry if anything showed up. As others have noted, as you get older you can have findings of changes to your body that have no symptoms and may never pose a risk. I decided that continuing with regular physicals met my needs.

Thank you Beeohio. I am very careful to post links based on credentials and science, not some blogger's opinion. Yes I know that more people than not will never bother to read further.LOL They would rather listen to a celebrity,a snake oil salesman or their Auntie's best friend.

For those people I have a magic foot bath to sell that will pull all the toxins attacking their bodies through the soles of their feet.

I for one read the entire article and still stand behind what I said before, "I've had them done, and would have them done again sometime. They were economical enough and I figure why wait until something happens, possibly without any warning. "

It does me no harm, and it doesn't pose any financial hardship.

Could it be that the medical community sees LifeLine Screening as cutting into their own potential profits, thus putting it down? If I care to spend 'my' money for tests, what does it really matter to them or to anyone else?

From the link Usefulness of Screening:
Besides "Peggy Fleming says so," the website offers five reasons to get screened:
(1) Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability, and the third leading cause of death in the US.
(2) 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, one every 45 seconds.
(3) Most people who have strokes and aneurysms do not experience symptoms. [I think they meant before the stroke; surely patients have symptoms when the stroke occurs.]
(4) 12 million Americans suffer from Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). They are 4-5 times more likely to die of a heart attack.
(5) Life Line Screening offers painless, inexpensive, and non-invasive preventive health exams right in your neighborhood.

No, IÂm sorry but those are not reasons to get screened. ThatÂs like saying that lots of people die from cancer and Life Line takes pretty photographs so I should let them take my photograph. If screening reduced morbidity and mortality, that might be a reason to get screened, but they are not claiming that. They canÂt claim it, because there is no evidence to support doing these tests in the general population.
I agree that there is no justification for ordering these tests in the general population, but since it poses no financial hardship to me, and because I prefer to take a proactive, rather than a reactive approach to my healthcare, I will consider having them done again in the future.

I just found out the hard way ($$$) that Medicare no longer covers annual physicals! Of all the stupid things our government does, this has to be near the top of the list!!

An annual physical was how I found out about my heart murmur, which led to an echocardiogram which showed aortic stenosis and minor carotid blockage. I looked forward to that yearly catchup and airing my minor ailments - sort of clearing the health-related air.

Thank you all so much for your opinions. They are coming to our area and we were curious about it.

I will say that I do not believe (I could be wrong but I don't think so) that Medicare hasn't changed regarding the yearly physical.

What happens is...you get a full Welcome to Medicare physical, they screen you for anything and everything and take a full history...every year following that, you go for tests that need to be done on a Medicare determined basis. For instance...Every year I do in for a checkup and the y check me for all of the yearly stuff that Medicare has decided is necessary...and Medicare pays...while I am there for that screening, obviously he is checking all the routine things like blood pressure etc etc and medicare pays...but Medicare doesn't pay for say a colonoscophy every year because it isn't necessary to have one "unless" there is a reason...and then Medicare will pay.

I think the term that Medicare doesn't pay for a routine physical is misleading...

No, Medicare does NOT pay for an annual physical that is not specific. Apparently, it will pay in part for updates on existing conditions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Explanation of annual physical coverage

My hubby does every year,good deal.