EVERY New Year when the government publishes its Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, it is followed by a familiar lament. We are losing the war against cancer.
Half a century ago, the story goes, a person was far more likely to die from heart disease. Now cancer is on the verge of overtaking it as the No. 1 cause of death.
Troubling as this sounds, the comparison is unfair. Cancer is, by far, the harder problem — a condition deeply ingrained in the nature of evolution and multicellular life. Given that obstacle, cancer researchers are fighting and even winning smaller battles: reducing the death toll from childhood cancers and preventing — and sometimes curing — cancers that strike people in their prime. But when it comes to diseases of the elderly, there can be no decisive victory. This is, in the end, a zero-sum game.
The rhetoric about the war on cancer implies that with enough money and determination, science might reduce cancer mortality as dramatically as it has with other leading killers — one more notch in medicine’s belt. But what, then, would we die from? Heart disease and cancer are primarily diseases of aging. Fewer people succumbing to one means more people living long enough to die from the other.
The newest cancer report, which came out in mid-December, put the best possible face on things. If one accounts for the advancing age of the population — with the graying of the baby boomers, death itself is on the rise...
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A for-profit service called ScriptCheck exists to rat you out regardless of how diligent you are in trying to keep a sensitive matter under wraps.
ScriptCheck, offered by ExamOne, a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, is yet another example of data mining — using sophisticated programs to scour databases in search of people's personal information and then selling that info to interested parties.
To be sure, life insurers have a need to know as much as possible about the people they cover. This helps mitigate risk and potentially keep rates affordable for everyone.
But for anyone who is taking an antidepressant, say, or being treated for a chronic condition, privacy can be a key consideration. You may not want employers — or potential employers — to know what you're taking. By the same token, you may not want to risk a potentially sharp increase in insurance premiums.
"It's a tough issue," said David Bryant, a Los Angeles life and health insurance broker. "From the consumer's perspective, you may want to keep certain things under wraps. But when you buy a policy, an insurer will want to pull all information about you."
And thanks to ScriptCheck, the insurer doesn't have to give things a second thought. By purchasing this or a similar service, the insurer can be notified of all prescriptions you've filled in recent years, regardless of how...
ScriptCheck, offered by ExamOne, a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, is yet another example of data mining — using sophisticated programs to scour databases in search of people's personal information and then selling that info to interested parties.
To be sure, life insurers have a need to know as much as possible about the people they cover. This helps mitigate risk and potentially keep rates affordable for everyone.
But for anyone who is taking an antidepressant, say, or being treated for a chronic condition, privacy can be a key consideration. You may not want employers — or potential employers — to know what you're taking. By the same token, you may not want to risk a potentially sharp increase in insurance premiums.
"It's a tough issue," said David Bryant, a Los Angeles life and health insurance broker. "From the consumer's perspective, you may want to keep certain things under wraps. But when you buy a policy, an insurer will want to pull all information about you."
And thanks to ScriptCheck, the insurer doesn't have to give things a second thought. By purchasing this or a similar service, the insurer can be notified of all prescriptions you've filled in recent years, regardless of how...